Goblin Friend
by R. Gray
Summary: A/U - The Goblins of Gringotts are NOT happy. Perhaps it's time for them to do something about it. Starts at the end of Chamber of Secrets. Bad Dumbledore, no pairings as yet.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

This story is AU and begins at the end of The Chamber of Secrets. The goblins in this story are most definitely NOT the goblins of the canon world. The case can be made either way for whether or not the canon Dumbledore can be related to this one, or to what degree. The same can be said for most of the other characters in this story.

**Chapter 1**

The Hogwarts Express was approaching Kings Cross station and the various students were gathering their belongings and returning to their own carriages after hearing the announcement. Almost all of them were looking forward to seeing meeting up with their family and going home for the summer.

Harry Potter on the other hand, was wishing he was going somewhere, almost anywhere, else.

Despite repeatedly asking the Headmaster if he could stay at the school over the summer, or at least ask his friends if he could stay with them, the Headmaster had informed him that he HAD to go back and stay with the Dursley's. That there was no other choice.

He wasn't looking forward to the coming summer at all. The Dursley's treated him like he was a slave and when he wasn't doing the many chores they gave him, he was locked in his room. Literally. Although at least the room was bigger than the cupboard they had shut him in before the Hogwarts letters had begun to arrive.

He had thought that the events of the last school year would have given him at least some leeway in his living arrangements. But no. It turned out that doing well in your exams, solving the mystery of where the Chamber of Secrets was located and killing a 1000 year old basilisk while saving the life of Ginny Weasley and preventing the return of a Dark Lord just wasn't enough. All it got you was a few school points, a plaque with your name on it in the school display case and a pat on the back while you got shipped off to a life of drudgery with people who hate and despise you.

At least the train ride had been good. Apart from having to put up with the now usual visit from Malfoy and his goons. Although it had been quite fun hexing the three of them and kicking them out of the cabin, the insults and taunts from Malfoy beforehand hadn't been very nice to hear.

Once the train came to a stop, he waited until Ron had lifted his trunk down, then helped Hermione with hers before finally getting his own down along with Hedwig's cage. It took a few minutes to convince Hedwig to go into the cage, by which time the other two had left the carriage so he was able to manoeuvre his stuff out onto the platform before taking a look around.

The platform was fairly crowded but he was able to spot the Weasley's without too much trouble. All that red hair made it fairly easy, and there was Hermione standing just to the side of them, obviously waiting to say a final goodbye to Ron before she left to go and meet her own parents. Dragging his truck behind him with one hand and with Hedwig's cage awkwardly held in his other hand, he made his way over to them just in time for Mrs. Weasley to look round and see him approaching.

'Harry!' she called out before smothering him in a rib-creaking hug. 'You must look after yourself this summer and make sure you eat more. You're all skin and bone young man.'

Before she could say any more, Mr. Weasley stepped forward and held his hand out.

'Thank you again Harry. If you need anything, anything at all, just let me know.' he said.

'You're welcome Mr. Weasley.' Harry mumbled in reply, not knowing what else to say he turned to Ron.

'I'll see you in September then.'

'Sure,' said Ron. 'I'll ask Mum and Dad if you can over and stay for a bit if you want.'

'That would be great,' Harry replied. 'I mean, I don't want to put you or your family out or anything, but it would be fun.'

'Well, Mum said something about us maybe going on a trip somewhere, but maybe after that we can work something out. I'll ask them and see what they say. I'll send you a letter once I know what's happening.' Ron said.

'Ok, I'll see you later then.' Harry finished up with a brief handshake and turned towards his trunk to see Hermione waiting for him.

'I thought I would wait for you and we can go through the portal to the muggle side together.' she said in response to his questioning look.

'I'll go and get a trolley then.' said Harry, before heading off to do just that.

The two of them quickly loaded their trunks and Hedwig's cage on the trolley and set off for the portal.

Passing through the portal, Harry quickly spotted his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, both of them looking annoyed about having to be where they were. Before he could say anything however, Hermione gave an excited squeal before setting off at a run and wrapping her arms around a tall, well built and extremely fit looking man who was standing next to a woman who, from her looks and the smile on her face, was most definitely Hermione's mother.

Deciding that he had better get a moving before his uncle went from annoyed to angry, Harry quickly pushed the trolley over to the Granger's. By the time he got there Hermione was wrapped in her mother's arms and the man he took to be Mr. Granger stepped forward and held out his hand.

'From her descriptions, I'm guessing you must be Harry.' he said. 'I'm Hermione's Dad.'

'Good afternoon Mr. Granger. Harry Potter.' Harry replied. 'Hermione's trunk is on the trolley there, if you give me a minute I'll go and get another trolley to put it on.'

Making his way over to where he had seen some trolley's sitting, Harry caught a glimpse of his uncle's face. It didn't look like his temper was improving any and he quickly realised that he would have to cut short any conversation with the Grangers if he didn't want a beating and no dinner when he got home.

Pushing the new trolley back over beside the old one, he quickly transferred Hermione's trunk onto it.

'That's us then,' he stated to Hermione. 'I guess I'll see you in September.'

'Ok Harry, I'll be at home for the next two weeks before we go to France for a month. But either side of that you have to write to me. And remember and do your homework.' she said.

''Bye then, goodbye Mr. Granger, Mrs. Granger, it was nice to meet you.' Harry said to them before quickly pushing his trolley over to where his aunt and uncle were waiting.

'Finally decided to grace us with your presence then Boy.' Uncle Vernon snarled at him.

'Sorry Uncle Vernon,' Harry quickly replied. 'The platform was busy and I had to help Hermione with her trunk. I got here as quickly as I could.'

'Well we don't have all day boy. The car's that way.' was the only response from his uncle, before he and Aunt Petunia set off. Not stopping or even looking back to see if Harry was following them.

Wishing once again that he didn't have to go back to Little Whinging, Harry set off after them.

They had reached the car and Harry had just finished loading his trunk into the boot when they were interrupted.

'Mr. Dursley? Mr. Potter?' a voice from behind them said.

They both turned to see who was speaking.

In front of them were three men, two of them standing behind the third. The man in front was of average height, with dark brown hair and was wearing an obviously expensive suit. The other two were extremely tall and looked like they worked out. A LOT.

'My name is Scribeshank, I represent Gringotts. I am here to invite you to a meeting at Gringotts regarding Mr. Potter's inheritance.' The man said.

'And if we don't wish to go?' asked Vernon belligerently, although the slight quiver to his voice betrayed him.

Scribeshank gave a small, shark like smile while the two men behind him stepped up level with him.

'That would be entirely your choice Mr. Dursley. Although given the importance my superiors at the bank placed on your attendance I believe it would be in your best interests to accompany us. My associates here would be more than willing to _discuss_ the matter further with you if you would prefer though.'

At that, the two large men smiled. Although Harry noted the smile didn't show in their eyes at all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Goblin Friend**

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

This story is AU and begins at the end of The Chamber of Secrets. The goblins in this story are most definitely NOT the goblins of the canon world. The case can be made either way for whether or not the canon Dumbledore can be related to this one, or to what degree. The same can be said for most of the other characters in this story.

**Chapter 2**

Harry sat in the small bare looking waiting room as he struggled to work out what was happening.

When he had entered the bank, his aunt and uncle had immediately been led off, while he had been led down a long corridor into what was obviously a medical area. He had been shown into a room and a Healer had shown up and proceeded to cast a number of diagnostic spells on him while taking extensive notes. The Healer had then told him to stay there and left, only to reappear about fifteen minutes later with another much older looking Healer who had cast another series of spells.

Neither of them had explained anything to him, they hadn't even spoken to him beyond giving him instructions. Eventually however, the first one had led him to another room where a meal was waiting for him. After he had eaten, he had been brought here and told to wait until he was called.

Just then the door on the far way opened and someone who he was guessing was a goblin guard from the looks of his armour and weapons stepped into view.

'Mr. Potter.' the goblin gestured for him to go through the door.

On stepping through the door, Harry found himself in a large office with a mixture of what looked like framed certificates and weapons adorning the walls which had two other doors visible. Facing the door he had entered by, was a large, ornate wooden desk, with an important goblin, if the quality of his clothes was anything to go by, sitting behind it. Also in the room were a number of other people and goblins. There were two guards standing at each of the two doors into the office. Finally, there were two people and a goblin he didn't recognise sitting to the right. The only empty seat in the room was directly in front of the desk.

The goblin to the right stepped forward.

'Good evening Mr. Potter, I apologise for the delay. My name is Ironfist and I have the honour of being your Account Manager.

'May I introduce you to Ragnock, Chairman of the Board and Leader of the Goblin Nation within Britain.' he indicated the goblin behind the desk with a wave of his hand.

Harry didn't know how he was supposed to respond to this, so he decided to go with what he did know.

'Good evening sir, it is a pleasure to meet you.' he gave a small bow as he said this.

'The pleasure is mine Mr. Potter, I assure you.' replied Ragnock.

Ironfist continued the introductions.

'This is Madame Amelia Bones, Regent of House Bones and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and this is Remus Lupin who is currently unemployed, although I believe he has recently received an offer of employment. Both Madame Bones and Mr. Lupin were friends with your parents.'

Harry's eyes widened at hearing that. Friend's of his parents? He hoped he would have the chance to talk to these two people at some point. Although given that most of the adults he had met in the magical world claimed to have known his parents but were never available to talk to him about them, he wasn't going to get overly optimistic about it.

Giving himself a mental shake, he collected his thoughts and murmured.

'Madame Bones, Mr. Lupin.'

'If you would take a seat Mr. Potter, we have a great deal of business to get through tonight.' Ironfist said.

Harry quickly made his way to the seat in front of the desk and sat down facing the desk and Ragnock.

Ragnock looked at each of the people present before speaking.

'As Ironfist has said, we have a great deal of business to do this evening. Please do not interrupt unless you do not understand what has been said.

'The first order of business is the Will of James and Lily Potter. This Will was lodged with both Gringotts and the Ministry of Magic on the 30th of October 1981.

'It was sealed by order of the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot on the morning of the 1st November 1981 and remains sealed and unexecuted to this day.

'There are currently only two people who can order the Will to be unsealed and read. The Chief Warlock, and the eldest and only remaining member of House Potter.

He paused and looked at Harry from across his desk.

'Mr. Potter, do you wish your parents Will unsealed and read this evening?'

Harry sat there, shocked, his thoughts racing. His parents Will! He hadn't ever given such a thing a thought. Finding out that it had been sealed and their last wishes hadn't been carried out had him reeling. After a minute or two, he realised that everyone was waiting for him to respond.

'Yes.' he said. 'Yes sir, I would like the Will to unsealed and read.'

Ragnock picked up an envelope from the desk and broke the seal. A brief pulse of magic was felt by everyone in the room.

'Do you wish me to read the Will in its entirety Mr. Potter, or would you prefer me to summarise the contents for you? We will, of course, be providing a Certified Copy of the full will to each of the Beneficiaries.' Ragnock asked.

Harry considered the question, considering the little he knew about legal procedures and Wills in general.

'A summary will be sufficient for now please.' he decided.

'Very well Mr. Potter. To summarise:

'Sirius Black is to receive 100,000 galleons and the deeds to the flat he shared with James Potter and Remus Lupin after Hogwarts.

'Remus Lupin is to receive 100,000 galleons and the deeds to a cottage in Sutherland. There is a note to indicate that you should be familiar with the cottage in question.

'Peter Pettigrew is to receive 100,000 galleons and the deeds to a cottage in Wiltshire. Unless he has betrayed them by revealing their location to the Dark Lord known as Voldemort or his Death Eaters.'

Both Amelia Bones and Remus Lupin looked startled at that.

'Frank and Alice Longbottom are to receive 100,000 galleons and custody and guardianship of our son, Harry James Potter until such time as he takes his position as Head of House Potter.

'If Frank and Alice Longbottom are unable to take custody of Harry, custody is to be granted to one of the following people in order of preference:

'Amelia Bones, Sirius Black, Minerva McGonagall.

'Remus Lupin is to be kept involved in Harry's life, and should be considered for a position as his tutor when he reaches a suitable age, if he is not otherwise employed.

'A Stipend of 1000 Galleons per year is to be made available to the guardian of our son, Harry James Potter, for his upkeep and maintenance until he takes his position as Head of House Potter.

'Under no circumstances is Harry James Potter to be placed in the care of Vernon and Petunia Dursley, if none of the above people are available, he is to be placed in an orphanage.

'All other possessions, belongings, monies and titles are passed to their son, Harry James Potter who is to take his place as the Head of House Potter no later than his 14th birthday.

'It also states that Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper for the Fidelius Charm on the house in Godric's Hollow that they were living in.'

Harry had been sitting in stunned surprise at the sums of money involved in the Will, and shock at the list of people who he should have been placed with.

Picking up a piece of parchment from his desk, he looked towards Remus Lupin.

'Mr. Lupin, if you would sign here, your bequest will be transferred to your vault. The keys to the property will be with the deeds.'

Remus stood up and with a glance at Harry he stepped up to the desk and signed his name after reading it thoroughly.

Once Remus had sat back down Ragnock continued.

'As Sirius Black is currently in Azkaban, his bequest will be transferred to a holding vault until he is able to sign for it.'

Amelia Bones looked as if she was about to say something, but Ragnock continued speaking.

'As Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters by revealing their location to Voldemort, his bequest is nullified.'

Amelia Bones finally did speak.

'Excuse me, but Sirius Black was convicted of betraying the Potters and killing Peter Pettigrew along with 13 muggles.'

'I am afraid your information is incorrect Madame Bones.' replied Ragnock.

'As you know, Gringotts Vaults are tied to the Vault owner and are sealed automatically on the owner's death. Peter Pettigrew's vault remains open in his name to this day.

'Also, a check of your departments records will show that while Sirius Black was indeed arrested and sent to Azkaban, he was not however charged with committing any crimes, much less given a trial and convicted.

'In addition, Sirius Black took a Magical Oath when he took his place as Harry Potter's godfather. Betraying the Potter's would have broken that Oath, in which case he would have died immediately. Given that he remains alive...'

Amelia Bones has a thoughtful look on her face as she replied.

'It would appear that I will have a fair amount of work to do tomorrow.' she appeared to gather her thoughts. 'Mr. Potter, I believe that my name was next on the list of people to take custody of you. I would be honoured if you would agree to come and live with my niece and myself. I believe you are at least acquainted with Susan.'

Harry was startled. He hadn't even given that a thought. He had thought that he would continue living with the Dursley's for at least the time being. The offer was attractive however.

'I am afraid that Mr. Potter will hopefully be remaining in Gringotts for at least the next two weeks Madame Bones.' Ragnock sent his brief hopes crashing to the ground. He continued on before anyone could interrupt.

'This is due to our next order of business, which is Mr. Potter's Medical Report which I have here.

'Mr. Potter has suffered repeated and prolonged periods of malnutrition over the last decade, with the associated effects on his growth and development.

Harry hung his head and refused to look at anyone in the room, much preferring to examine the floor.

'He has also had several broken bones which have not healed properly, his glasses are not the correct prescription and he should not require glasses anyway as the problems with his eyesight are easily fixed with a short potions regime.

'In addition, the scar on his forehead has obviously never been examined properly by a competent Healer, as it contains some sort of Dark Magic residue which will have to be dealt with under controlled conditions. The Senior Healer who examined Mr. Potter has his suspicions as to what this Dark Magic is, but until a more detailed examination has been done by an expert in the field he prefers to withhold them.

'There is also the matter of the injury he sustained at Hogwarts recently, which has not been fully healed and for which he should have been transferred to St. Mongo's by the school nurse who does not have the training to deal with such a serious injury.

'I personally find myself to be quite interested in how you, Mr. Potter, came to have been bitten by a basilisk not to mention how you manage to survive such an injury.

'The Healer's found evidence that Mr. Potter's Magical Core has been bound. By whom and to what extent we do not yet know. Further examination will be necessary to determine the exact nature and extent of the binding and how best to go about releasing it without causing damage to Mr. Potter.

'Now, given that much of the damage to Mr. Potter was done while he was in the care of Mr. and Mrs. Dursley or while he was at Hogwarts, and that it was either not noticed or ignored while he was at Hogwarts, it has been decided that Gringotts will offer to provide the medical care that Mr. Potter needs at this time. We will also provide accommodation for Mr. Potter until his treatment has been completed. Mr. Potter will not be billed for this. The bill will be paid by those who should have been providing for his welfare up until now. This means Mr. and Mrs. Dursley and Hogwarts will be billed for the services of our Healers.

'Alternatively, Mr. Potter may turn down our offer and make other arrangements for the treatment he requires.' Ragnock looked at Harry, obviously wanting a response.

Harry stared back at Ragnock, his mind racing. The Dursley's had never taken him to a doctor for the injuries they had inflicted on him and Madame Pomfrey for all her insistence on not letting him out of the Hospital Wing until his current injury had healed, hadn't done anything about any of his old injuries. Madame Bones had offered to take him into her home, but would she do anything about what Ragnock had just said?

He was brought back to reality by the sound of Remus Lupin's voice.

'Harry, I think you should take Ragnock's offer.'

He looked across at Remus.

'The Healers at St. Mongo's are good.' Remus continued. 'But Gringotts only hires the best.'

Madame Bones grimaced as he said that, but then she nodded in agreement.

'I agree Harry, this is a very generous offer, as Remus said, Gringotts only hires the best.'

Harry turned back to face Ragnock.

'I believe that I will take you up on your offer Ragnock.' he said as formally as he could.

Ragnock nodded and reached for yet another piece of paper on desk. After signing it he pushed it across the desk to Harry.

'Please sign this then Mr. Potter. It is a consent form for the treatment which will be carried out here within Gringotts, with the bill to be paid for by the Dursley Family and Hogwarts.'

Harry quickly read the form which was as Ragnock had said, although in much more flowery language and then signed it with the quill Ragnock offered him.

'We have two more items of business to take care of tonight, after which you will be shown to your accommodation where your Healer will meet with you to discuss and begin your treatment.

'Our penultimate item of business is Mr. and Mrs. Dursley.

'They were questioned earlier this evening, while you were being examined by our Healers. In conjunction with the evidence we had already acquired and the results of the questioning they have been subjected to, it has been decided that the evidence we have gathered against them will be presented to the muggle authorities where they will face a number of charges. It is likely that they will both receive a long prison sentence.

'Once this meeting ends, they will be removed to a holding cell, where they will be held pending further questioning and their eventual trial.

'The relevant muggle authorities will be informed of their arrest so that their son will be cared for by the appropriate people once he leaves the school he is currently attending..

Amelia Bones spoke up once more.

'May I enquire as to what muggle crimes they may have committed?' She asked.

Ragnock glanced down at the parchment in front of him before answering her.

'Fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion, bribing of public officials, conspiring to pervert the course of justice and child abuse amongst others.' Was his succinct reply.

'I see...' she said while glancing briefly at Harry.

'I believe that in my capacity as the Head of the DMLE, I would like to be provided with a copy of the evidence as well.' was all she said though.

A short nod from Ragnock was his only response.

Ragnock broke the uncomfortable silence which had broken out in the office following her words by reaching forward and picking up the two small wooden boxes which were sitting on his desk, one in each hand.

'Our final item of business for this evening, are these.

'These are the Rings for the Houses of Potter and Black.

'Mr. Potter, as the only son and heir of the last Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, you are the only person eligible to become the next Head of your House.

'Within this box,' he tapped the box on the right. 'Are the Head of House and the Heir of House rings for House Potter. You are currently eligible to wear the Head of House ring.

'You are also the designated Heir of Sirius Black, who is the current Heir to the Ancient and Noble House of Black following the death of the previous Head of House, Acturus Black, in 1991.

'Within this box,' he tapped the box on the left. 'Are the Head of House and the Heir of House rings for House Black. You are currently eligible to wear the Heir ring as your godfather will wear the Head of House ring should he be freed from Azkaban.

'Originally, my intention was to present these rings to you tonight and ask you to put them on and claim your position as Head of House Potter and Heir of House Black.

'The results of your Medical have changed this however. These particular rings date back to long before the Ministry of Magic and the Wizengamot. They predate even the Council of Wizards which ruled this land before them. As such, they have a great many enchantments on them, which even we here in Gringotts are unable to determine.

'What we do know, is that when you put one of these rings on, you are tested to find out if you are considered _worthy_ of the position.

'Given your current physical and magical condition, the Healers have advised that we should wait until they have completed your treatment, removed the remnant of Dark Magic which resides in the scar on your forehead, and removed the bindings on your magic before you put the rings on and formally claim your place as Head of House Potter and Heir of House Black.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Goblin Friend**

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

This story is AU and begins at the end of The Chamber of Secrets. The goblins in this story are most definitely NOT the goblins of the canon world. The case can be made either way for whether or not the canon Dumbledore can be related to this one, or to what degree. The same can be said for most of the other characters in this story.

**Chapter 3**

Amelia Bones stood and watched as Harry Potter walked out of the office. The meeting which had just finished had been shocking to say the least.

Finding out that the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot was complicit in ignoring the Will of one of the Ancient Houses, which had resulted in the innocent Heir of another of the Ancient Houses being sent to prison without a trial was quite a blow.

Adding on to that the not quite verbally stated implication that Harry Potter, Heir to House Potter and The-Boy-Who-Lived had been abused, and it was very close to being more than she could absorb in such a short period of time.

She was fairly certain that the rest of this evening's discussion wasn't going to be any easier however. A view that was quickly confirmed by Ragnock's next words.

'Now that we have gotten all of that taken care of, I would suggest that we move our discussions to more a more _informal_ settings. Do you agree?' he asked.

She looked across at Remus Lupin who simply raised one eyebrow in question. Looking back at Ragnock she decided to agree.

'Very well, perhaps in a more informal and _unofficial_,' she stressed the word, 'setting we can discuss what, exactly, is going on in more detail.'

With that, Ragnock got up off his chair and moved towards the door which Harry had gone through just a few minutes earlier. As Amelia and Remus got up to follow him he gestured towards the door.

'Why don't we retire to my private quarters then? And we can discuss things over a drink.'

* * *

Amelia took a look around as she sat in the comfortable armchair. She had to admit to being a bit surprised at the lack of ostentation in the room. This was closer to her own private sitting room in Bones Manor, the one that only family and close friends got to see, than she had expected for the Goblin Leader.

Ragnock finished pouring three glasses of firewhiskey before handing one each to Amelia and Remus and then taking his own seat next to the large, plain and unornamented granite fireplace.

'I expect you wish to know why Gringotts is involving itself in this Mr. Potter's life at this time.' he began.

'That would be an obvious place to start.' Amelia replied.

'It all began roughly six months ago, when Ironfist was appointed as the Potter Account Manager.' Ragnock started.

'The previous Account Manager, Shatterstone, had died in an accident in January and Ironfist was appointed to the position.

'Within two days of Ironfist taking the position he was contacted by Albus Dumbledore asking for a meeting. At this meeting, Dumbledore stated that he was Harry Potter's guardian and that all communications with Mr. Potter, including vault statements, were to go via him.

'He also intimated, without ever quite stating it outright, that it would be worth Ironfist's while to cooperate with him. Ironfist indicated that he was open to the arrangement and when an anonymous payment was made into his private account the next day he began investigating.

'He finally contacted me three months ago. This was when his investigation had reached the point where he could not proceed any further on his own authority. Once he had shown me the evidence he had uncovered to that point, I not only authorised him to proceed further, I also allocated him additional resources to assist.

'At this point in time I have sufficient proof to convict your Chief Warlock, in a fair court, of attempted bribery of a Gringotts Account Manager, of subverting the Will of the Head of an Ancient and Noble House, false imprisonment of the Heir of an Ancient and Noble House, theft of money and heirlooms from an Ancient and Noble House, conspiracy to commit child abuse and attempted Line Theft. Obviously, not all of these crimes fall under Goblin Law, but we are willing to provide you with the evidence of the crimes he has committed against Wizarding Law.

'If I can get Mr. Dumbledore into Gringotts and in one of my holding cells I have no doubt that his questioning will uncover a great many other crimes.'

Amelia decided to speak up.

'While I am sure you can achieve the conviction for the crimes you have mentioned Ragnock, and even the two crimes that the Will reading showed up would be sufficient to have almost anyone else imprisoned for some time, putting Dumbledore on trial, never mind convicting him, will have a significant backlash in our community. Are you certain that you wish to go ahead with that? I wouldn't put it past at least some influential members of our society to push for some sort of sanctions against you if you do.'

'Malfoy and Nott for sure,' responded Remus. 'Avery and McNair would just love to cause trouble for the goblins as well. I think Crouch would likely get behind them as well. He might not support them in most things, but he's never liked goblins. Then you have Dumbledore's own supporters who likely won't believe anything but a confession from his own mouth.'

'All very true.' Ragnock interjected. 'There are several reasons we are doing what we are doing however. As there are also reasons why we have chosen to act at this particular time as well.

'The Potter's are an old family. One of the oldest wizarding families in the world, one of only three remaining families in the world whose lineage can be traced, father to son, beyond the reach of our goblin records. They are also the only surviving family of those who originally invested in Gringotts when the bank was founded. As such, the Potter's are still held in high esteem by Gringotts and the Goblin Nation.

'Over and above this, one of our one betrayed Mr. Potter. Shatterstone held the responsibility of managing the Potter Account and ensuring that Mr. Potter's affairs were properly looked after. Instead he allowed the Potter's Will to sit unexecuted, he allowed Dumbledore to illegally declare himself Mr. Potter's guardian, he made illegal purchase's and payments with the funds in Mr. Potter's Trust Vault and he failed to inform Mr. Potter of the things he should have done. This not only dishonoured Shatterstone, it also reflects poorly on the honour of Gringotts and the Goblin Nation and we must act to rectify that situation.

'Finally, our investigation began with looking at the situation regarding Mr. Potter and Dumbledore, and how we might be able to act to resolve the situation in a way which would be profitable for both Mr. Potter and ourselves. As we uncovered more information however, we began to see a way in which Wizarding Britain in general may profit from our actions. Although the short term consequences may leave some disgruntled.'

Remus Lupin sat forward in his seat and spoke up.

'Leaving the other matters aside for the moment, you say your actions are intended to be profitable for both yourselves and Harry. Just how do you intend to realise this profit?' he asked.

'The most obvious and immediate way in which we will both profit, is that the Potter Account is no longer frozen. Or at least it will be unfrozen once Mr. Potter completes the paperwork to accept his inheritance.' Ragnock replied.

'When a person dies, their Account with Gringotts is frozen until such time as their Will has been read and their bequests dealt with in accordance with the Will. As the Potter's Will was sealed and unread, the Account remained frozen. Once Mr. Potter completes the paperwork, it will be unfrozen and his Account Manager can begin the process of putting the funds to work once again. This represents an immediate return to profitability of an inactive account and given the size of the Potter Account, the potential profits available to be gained are significant.

'In addition to this, how much do either of you know about the events at Hogwarts this last year?' he asked.

Remus just shook his head, indicating he didn't know anything.

'Not a great deal as yet.' said Amelia. 'Although I expect to hear more from my niece over the next couple of evenings.'

'As I expected,' commented Ragnock. 'Dumbledore is many things, but he excels at regulating just what information is released regarding the activities at his school.

'For Mr. Lupin's benefit, it was reported last year that a message was found written on one of the corridor walls, stating that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened and that the Heir of Slytherin had returned. Also found at the scene was the petrified body of the caretakers cat. It was determined that the cat was not dead but a specialised potion would be required to revive it.

'Over the course of the year a number of students then suffered the same fate. Eventually the Minister decided to act and went to the school and arrested Rebeus Hagrid and sent him to Azkaban. At the same time Lucius Malfoy succeed in mustering enough votes on the School Board to have Dumbledore removed from the school.

'Eventually however Slytherin's Heir struck again. This time leaving another message that stated that, _Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber for ever_. The staff then determined that Miss Ginevra Weasley was missing.

'The school Governor's quickly reinstated Dumbledore and shortly after he returned to the school he informed them and the Ministry that Miss Weasley had been found safe and well and that Slytherin's monster had been killed.

'The implication of course was that Dumbledore was responsible for both.'

'That pretty much corresponds with what I've heard.' stated Amelia.

'Quite.' replied Ragnock. 'Our informants agree with those events up until Miss Weasley went missing. We still have to speak to Mr. Potter, but we believe his story will agree substantially with our informants.

'According to our informants, when Miss Weasley went missing, Mr. Potter and a Mr. Ronald Weasley approached the DADA professor Mr. Lockhart, believing that they knew what type of creature Slytherin's monster was, and that they may know the location of the entrance to the Chamber.

'The three of them then made their way to the Chamber but were separated in an incident before reaching the Chamber proper. Mr. Lockhart lost the vast majority of his memories in this incident and he and Mr. Weasley were unable to accompany Mr. Potter to the main Chamber.

'Mr Potter proceeded to the Chamber on his own, where he found Miss Weasley and confronted both the Heir of Slytherin and Slytherin's monster. He defeated both and returned to the school with Miss Weasley. Dumbledore's phoenix is rumoured to have assisted him in defeating the monster which is also rumoured to have been an unusually large basilisk.'

'That's quite a story Ragnock,' Remus jumped in, 'I'm not quite sure I can believe that Harry was able to kill a basilisk though, even with the help of a phoenix, such a feat is surely beyond a not yet 13 year old child.'

'Normally I would agree with you Remus.' Ragnock replied. 'We are talking about Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived however.' He held up his hand to stop Amelia and Remus interrupting again. 'There is one piece of corroborating evidence however, before we even speak to Mr. Potter.'

'And what would that be?' Amelia asked.

'His medical report.' Ragnock responded. 'I mentioned his recent injury, he has a recently formed scar on his arm, consistent with being bitten by a large snake. He also has traces of basilisk venom remaining within his body, along with traces of phoenix tears, although the Healer is a little confused at the absence of any traces of anti-venom.'

'Now that is confusing.' said Remus. Seeing Amelia's questioning look he continued. 'Phoenix tears are not a counter to basilisk venom, they will heal the bite wound and help heal the damage the venom does to the body, but they won't do anything about the venom itself. You need the specific anti-venom, plus it needs to be given within a period of minutes of the victim being bitten, in order to prevent death. The tears on their own won't prevent the victim of basilisk poisoning from dying. But if the anti-venom had been applied, then it should still be detectable in the body, especially seeing as traces of the venom are.'

'You are substantially correct Remus,' Ragnock continued, 'according to our Healers, Mr. Potter was bitten and a short time later a large amount of phoenix tears was applied to the wound. This was sufficient to heal the wound and the tears that were absorbed into his bloodstream then worked on healing the damage done by the venom. Given that no trace of the anti-venom has been found, but traces of venom have been, Mr. Potter is still currently being poisoned by the venom and the traces of tears are then healing the damage. Mr. Potter should therefore be in an extreme amount of pain, sufficient to completely incapacitate him, unless our Healers theory is correct that is.'

Ragnock paused and looked at his two guests until Amelia finally lost patience.

'Ok Ragnock, just what is your Healer's theory?'

'Since you insist Amelia.' he smirked at her. 'Our Healer's theory is that after Mr. Potter was bitten, the phoenix tears were sufficient to keep him alive, but in a great deal of pain as his body was continually being damaged and repaired. Mr. Potter's magic then acted to preserve him, by adapting his body to the venom, rendering him immune to basilisk venom.

'Now, your original question, Remus, was how we intended to profit from our actions.

'As you are both aware, when a Class XXX creature is shown to be a threat to property or life, then the person or persons who kill or capture said creature are entitled to the disposal rights of the carcass or to sell the living creature to a preserve.

'If, as we believe, Mr. Potter did kill a basilisk which was petrifying students within Hogwarts, then he is entitled to dispose of the carcass. This basilisk is rumoured to have been unusually large, so if we assume it to have been approximately ten feet in length, Mr. Potter could expect to receive approximately 200,000 Galleons once rendering costs and taxes have been deducted.

'This does not take into account any income that could potentially be earned by putting Slytherin's monster, slain by the Boy-Who-Lived in the Chamber of Secrets on display for a short time before rendering it down.'

'You're right,' Remus began. 'that is a significant amount of money. I have no idea if Harry would be willing to put the beast on display or not though. And you are assuming that the beast both existed and was killed by Harry. And you are assuming as well, that it remains accessible.'

'You are substantially correct once again Remus.' replied Ragnock. The information from our informants plus the evidence from Mr. Potter's medical report has me inclined to believe the beast both existed and was killed. The question of its accessibility on the other hand can only be answered by Mr. Potter. Hopefully, he will be willing to talk about what happened in the next couple of days, once the Healers are happy with his progress.'

Amelia leaned forward.

'I would like to be present when you speak to Harry about this Ragnock. Both as the next person on the list to take Harry in, and in my role as the Head of the DMLE.

'If there was indeed a basilisk roaming around Hogwarts petrifying students, I'll need to hold an investigation as to why I was not kept fully informed, and why the staff and the Board of Governor's failed to close the school until the beast was found and dealt with.'

'Very well, Amelia. I will hold off on questioning Mr. Potter on this matter until such time as you are available to attend.' Ragnock replied. 'I assume you would like to attend as well Remus.'

'Very much so.' responded Remus.

'Now that we have dealt with the events at Hogwarts over the last year, we have the final reason we have chosen to act now.' Ragnock paused to take a sip of his firewhiskey.

'As I stated earlier, this began with an investigation into the affairs of Mr. Potter and Dumbledore. It did not end there.'


	4. Chapter 4

**Goblin Friend**

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

This story is AU and begins at the end of The Chamber of Secrets. The goblins in this story are most definitely NOT the goblins of the canon world. The case can be made either way for whether or not the canon Dumbledore can be related to this one, or to what degree. The same can be said for most of the other characters in this story.

Thanks for the reviews, it's nice to know at least some people are enjoying the story.

**Chapter 4**

He woke up in a large, warm and comfortable bed. Thinking briefly about it, he decided this bed was even better than the one he slept in at Hogwarts. He then promptly turned over and went back to sleep.

The next thing he knew was the voice of the Healer from the night before calling him.

'Time to get up Mr. Potter. You have a long day ahead of you and the sooner you get up, the sooner we can get started.'

He groaned and rolled over to look blurrily up at the Healer.

Yep, it was the same one from last night, the one who had taken one look at him when he arrived from the meeting with Ragnock, Amelia and Remus and bundled him straight into bed and given him a potion to help him sleep. The one who had refused to talk about the treatment he was going to be getting, saying he needed to sleep and they would talk about it this morning.

Deciding that she wasn't going to go away and leave him alone, he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed while reaching out to the bedside table he had left his glasses on.

'Very good Mr. Potter. Now, once you have gotten washed and dressed, you will find a light breakfast waiting for you in the next room. I will come back in an hour and we will discuss your treatment then.' After saying that, she turned and left the room.

After he had his glasses on, he took a look around the room. He hadn't really paid much attention to it last night, being a bit more interested in sleep at the time.

Now that he had the time to check it out, it appeared to be a fairly standard bedroom. A good sized bed, with what appeared to be his school trunk sitting on the floor at the end of it. A double wardrobe against one wall, with a chest of drawers next to it and a single hardback chair on the other side of the bed. Two doors, one the Healer had gone through on the wall facing the bed, the other door which was open, another on the wall opposite the wardrobe looked to open onto a bathroom. There was also what appeared to be a window above the bed. But on reflection he wasn't sure about that, after all, he was fairly sure he had gone downwards after entering the bank, and hadn't gone back up. A closer look at the _window_ showed that there wasn't any way to open it, so perhaps it was a glamour or an illusion or something like that.

Deciding that there wasn't much point in worrying about something like that at this point, he decided he had better check out the bathroom so he could get washed and dressed and head to the breakfast the Healer had mentioned.

* * *

After finishing the breakfast that had been on the small table in the middle of the next room the Healer had mentioned, Harry sat back to contemplate the room he was in now.

Two doors, one to the bedroom he had woken up in, one he was fairly sure led out to a corridor if his recollection of last night was correct. To one side of the room was a good sized desk with another of those _maybe_ windows above it, a chair and an empty bookshelf next to it. The other wall had a couple of filled bookshelves against it either side of a fireplace. Between the table he was sitting at and that wall were four comfortable looking easy chairs situated around a low coffee table which was directly in front of the fireplace.

Just then there was a knock at the door and the Healer walked in.

'Ah, you've finished your breakfast I see. Good. Why don't we get comfortable and we can talk about the results of your Medical check-up and discus how we'll handle your treatment.' she said.

After a moment to consider things, Harry decided that sounded OK and while he got up from his chair he motioned towards the easy chairs. 'Please, take a seat.'

Once both of them were settled, the Healer began.

'Right then Mr. Potter, to begin with, my name is April Rand. I'm a fully qualified Healer and I'll be your Primary Healer during your treatment. There will be a couple of Senior Healers involved, but I'll be the one handling the day-to-day aspects of the treatment.

'Now, as you should recall, we did a few diagnostic spells on you last night.'

Harry nodded to indicate that he did.

'Good, those spells have given us most of the information that we need to begin your treatment. Unfortunately, there are a couple of things they showed up that we need to investigate in more detail before we finalise things.

'The first one is the scar on your forehead. The Senior Healer who came in last night has some suspicions about the Dark Magic that is lingering in the scar, but he wants an expert in the field to have a look at it. He'll be here this afternoon to examine it. What happens after that will depend on his findings.'

'Ok.' Harry nodded to show he understood.

'The next thing we need to look at in more detail,' Healer Rand continued. 'is the scar on your arm, and the fact that the scan of your blood is showing trace amounts of basilisk venom and phoenix tears within it.'

Harry opened his mouth to explain but was interrupted before he could begin.

'Ragnock, Madame Bones, Mr. Lupin and myself are all interested in just how this came about. But perhaps it would be best if you told us all at the same time after I've completed my examination.' she said.

'Ok.' Harry agreed. 'Will the exam take long?'

'About an hour.' she replied. 'And I can do it right here. No need to go to the hospital ward.'

* * *

Harry walked Ragnock's office with Healer Rand and saw that Amelia Bones and Remus Lupin were already there with Ragnock waiting on him.

'Sorry for keeping you waiting.' he apologised, 'the examination took a little longer than expected.'

'That is fine Mr. Potter. I prefer my Healers to be thorough.' Ragnock replied. 'Please take a seat and we can get started.'

Harry and Healer Rand sat in the chairs in front of the desk and got settled.

'Why don't we begin with Healer Rand's report and then we can move onto our business with you Mr. Potter.' Ragnock suggested before nodding to Healer Rand.

'Very well sir, I met with Mr. Potter this morning after breakfast and provided him with an brief overview of how we intend to handle his treatment here.' she began.

'Once I had done that, I did an more in depth examination of the scar on his arm and his blood, seeking to find out what I could about the venom and tears in his blood and how it may be affecting him.' she paused to gather her thoughts.

'And your conclusions?' Amelia asked.

'The evidence suggests that Mr. Potter was indeed bitten by a basilisk and poisoned by its venom. Shortly afterwards Phoenix tears were applied to the wound to heal it, but there is no evidence of any antidote being provided at any time.

'I did discover that he has a fragment of what appears to basilisk fang embedded in the bone of his arm underneath the scar. Unfortunately, the fragment appears to have fused somehow with the bone and the only way to remove it now would be to operate and cut it out.

'This fragment appears to be the reason why Mr. Potter still has venom in his blood. Normally, basilisk venom is fatal unless the antidote is applied in time. This did not happen in Mr. Potter's case, but he did receive Phoenix Tears which worked to repair the damage to his body from the venom. Our current hypothesis, is that the Phoenix Tears kept Mr. Potter alive long enough for his magic to adjust his body to become immune to the venom. The venom would normally have exited his body by now, but we believe that the fragment of fang that is embedded within the bone of his arm was also affected by his magic, and his body is now manufacturing trace amounts of venom in his blood on a continual basis.

'I have taken a sample of blood in order to have it tested for toxicity, but until the results come back it should be assumed that Mr. Potter's blood is now toxic to anyone other than himself.

'What the long term effects of this will be on Mr. Potter's health is unknown and I would advise that he is checked on a regular basis to see how his body and immune system are doing.

'It also means that the normal healing potions will have to be tested to see if they still work properly on Mr. Potter, or if they have an adverse effect instead.

'After this meeting I will be contacting some of the Senior Healers and Potions Masters to discus if any changes will need to be made to the various potions we will be using during Mr. Potter's treatment.' Healer Rand continued.

'We also have the scar on his forehead, which dates to October 1981, our scans indicate there is some type of Dark Magic embedded in the scar which needs to be removed. After speaking to a Senior Healer, an expert in the field has been called in to examine the scar and determine a course of treatment.

'At this moment in time, and subject to the results of the examination of the scar on his forehead which will happen this afternoon, we intent to start Mr. Potter on a series of nutrient potions beginning tomorrow morning. His meals, that we will be providing him, will be selected to complement the potions.

'Over the course of the next week Mr. Potter will be examined on a daily basis and his treatment fine-tuned to his precise requirements. His skeletal structure in particular will be observed in detail, some of the bones may need to be removed and re-grown, some will probably be fine after the nutrients and some Skele-grow.' she paused and looked around the room. Nods from everyone indicated they had followed her so far.

'We also have to deal with the binding on his magic. A closer examination has revealed that there are currently 4 separate bindings on Mr. Potter and there are indications that there was a fifth at some point which was broken somehow.'

Seeing that both Amelia and Remus were getting ready to speak up, Healer Rand quickly continued.

'The earliest binding appears to date to when Mr. Potter was approximately six months old and is commonly placed on young children who exhibit unusually strong accidental magic. It is normally placed on the parents request and checked on a regular basis before being removed when the child is around about eight or nine years of age.

'The next binding appears to have been placed when Mr. Potter was about eighteen months old and it is much stronger in nature. It is one that is normally used to block an adult's use of magic.

'Then we have a binding which prevents Mr. Potter using his ability as a Metamorph. It would appear to have been placed when he was approximately six years old and is concurrent with another binding on his magic which was subsequently broken when he was around eight years old. Determining the extent or strength of his Metamorph ability can only be done once the binding has been removed.

'The final binding was placed shortly after the previous one was broken when Mr. Potter was eight.'

She broke off and looked at the other adults present. They all looked shocked and appalled. Finally Amelia spoke up.

'Harry,' she began. 'do you recall anything that happened when you were six and eight that might have been you using magic?' she carefully asked.

'Umm, well, my aunt did give me a really bad haircut when I was six, and my hair was back to normal the next morning.' he replied.

'And when you were eight?' asked Remus.

Harry thought about it for a minute.

'The only thing that comes to mind is when my cousin and his gang were chasing me during the break at school. I took a wrong turn and ended up in a dead end. I was climbing into one of the bins to hide while wishing I was somewhere else and the next thing I knew I was on top of the school roof.' he finally said.

Amelia leaned forward with an intent look on her face.

'Harry, can you remember exactly what you felt when that happened? Any strange or unusual feelings?' she asked him.

He considered the question for a bit.

'I felt like I'd been squeezed through a tube,' he eventually said, 'and I felt like I was going to be sick for a few minutes.'

'You apparated at eight years old, even with those bindings on your magic.' breathed Amelia, stunned.

'What's apparated?' asked Harry.

Remus shook his head and answered with a wry look at Amelia.

'Apparition a common method of travelling from one place to another within the Wizarding World. It's not taught until you are seventeen as it can be dangerous and the majority of people aren't capable of doing it before they are that age.

'I'll have to ask you not to try doing it, even though you've done it before. Not until you are seventeen and have gone through the lessons and gotten your licence for it.'

Harry nodded his agreement and the room was silent for a few minutes as the adults absorbed the information that Healer Rand had just given them.

'So...' Remus said. 'You said he currently has four bindings on his magic. When do you plan on removing them?'

'Normally I would say as soon as possible.' Healer Rand began. 'Having all of his magic available to him would speed up the healing process. Unfortunately, in this case the Dark Magic in the scar on his head complicates things and until the expert completes his examination this afternoon I simply don't have an answer for you.'

'What do you mean?' asked Amelia.

'I simply don't know if the expert will prefer to deal with the Dark Magic in the scar while Mr. Potter's magic is still bound, or if he will prefer to wait until his magic is unbound.

'We got some readings during our scans which suggest that whatever is in the scar may be drawing on Mr. Potter's magic in some way. But the readings were inconclusive. It's also possible he will prefer Mr. Potter to be in better overall health before he does whatever he decides needs to be done. I just don't know enough at this point to be able to say.'

Healer Rand stopped and looked around the room again. Amelia and Remus both looked pensive, Ragnock on the other hand looked to be deep in thought with a slight frown beginning to show on his face.

'So,' Ragnock spoke up. 'to summarise, you are working with the Senior Healers and Potions Masters to put together a treatment regime for Mr. Potter to fix the damage that he has suffered to this date.

'You also have an expert on Dark Magic examining the scar on Mr. Potter's head this afternoon, after which a schedule for removing said Dark Magic and the bindings on Mr. Potter's magic will be worked out. After which Mr. Potter will finally be fit and healthy enough to put on his Head of House and Heir of House rings and fully claim his inheritance and position.'

'That is correct sir.' Healer Rand replied.

Very well. I believe that we have covered the Medical Report part of this meeting.

'Mr. Potter, I believe that all four of us here would very much like to hear the story of just how you managed to be bitten by a basilisk.'

Harry looked at the adults in the room and saw varying degrees of interest. Ranging from extremely interested upwards. Taking a deep breath he got ready to speak.

'It all began on Halloween last year when Ron, Hermione and myself decided to go the Sir Nicholas's Deathday Party. We were wandering the castle afterwards when we came across Mr Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, who had been petrified.' he began.

**A/N** – The base idea for the basilisk fang fragment being imbedded in Harry's bone and his bones generating a continual amount of venom in his bloodstream is from _Rorschach's Blot_ 'Make a Wish' story (although I'm using it in a slightly different manner). A great story you really should take the time to go and read.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

This story is AU and begins at the end of The Chamber of Secrets. The goblins in this story are most definitely NOT the goblins of the canon world. The case can be made either way for whether or not the canon Dumbledore can be related to this one, or to what degree. The same can be said for most of the other characters in this story.

Thanks for the reviews, it's nice to know at least some people are enjoying the story.

**Chapter 5**

Harry sat in his chair in the examination room, thinking about the events of the morning. He had heard a few times that it could be good for you to talk about traumatic events afterwards, that it could help you deal with them and put them behind you. But he'd never really experienced it himself.

Before Hogwarts, there really hadn't been anyone he could talk to. And once he got to Hogwarts..., well, there was Ron and Hermione, but they had usually been with him during the events, and they never really talked about what had happened except for brief updates immediately afterwards for whoever hadn't been present for some part or other.

Once whatever they were dealing with had been dealt with, they had never really sat down and talked about what they had seen and done. And they, well, at least he, he wasn't sure if the other two had talked to their parents, had never talked to anyone else about the things they had done. Talking about the events of last year to Ragnock, Amelia, Remus and Healer Rand had been strangely cathartic and he was feeling much better, almost _lighter_ now.

Maybe, he mused, he could talk to them about other things as well. There were the events of his first year at Hogwarts after all, plus there were his years at the Dursley's as well. He didn't like to think, never mind talk, about what he had gone through at the Dursley's, but given how much better he felt after talking about last year, maybe it would help to talk to someone about those years as well.

He decided that he would think about it some more later. The adults here _seemed_ to be interested in helping him and in listening to what he wanted and had to say. But it wasn't like there hadn't been adults who had promised to help him before who had then done nothing. Yep, he would wait and see what happened while he thought things over.

He looked around the examination room with some interest. He'd never been to see a muggle doctor or to a muggle hospital, so he didn't have anything from the muggle world to compare it to. And the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts was simply a double row of beds with a potions cabinet on one wall and a door to Madame Pomfrey's office. Madame Pomfrey just pulled a set of curtains around the bed if she wanted privacy for something.

This room though, looked like it was setup purely as an office and examination room, not for patients to stay in.

There was a good sized desk, which he and Healer Rand were currently sitting in front of, with a chair behind it. The wall behind the chair was completely filled with bookcases which were full of books. Another wall had a large cabinet which he assumed held potions or some sort of equipment the Healer might use. And then there was what Healer Rand had said was the examination couch, which looked like an uncomfortable, narrow bed with a thin mattress and no pillows or quilt. It was sitting out from the wall, Healer Rand had said that was so the Healer could move fully around the couch without needing the patient to move, allowing them to access whatever they needed to examine.

Just then the door opened and a man and an old looking goblin walked in.

Healer Rand stood and he quickly did the same.

'Good afternoon sir,' said Healer Rand, 'Harry, this is Senior Healer Ogawa and Master Curse Breaker Ripjaw.'

Once the introductions were over, everyone moved to sit down, with Ripjaw conjuring himself a chair alongside Healer Rand.

'Now, as you are aware Mr. Potter,' Healer Ogawa started, 'we are here to examine the scar on your head in more detail.

'Our initial scans indicate that there is some sort of Dark Magic residue within the scar, and that it may possibly have formed some sort of link with your own magic. Master Ripjaw has been called in from Gringotts operations in Egypt as we here in Britain do not have the experience or expertise in dealing with this sort of thing, while our colleagues in Egypt do.

'As such, Master Ripjaw will conduct a more in-depth examination and then assist us in determining the correct course of action in getting rid of whatever it is in your scar.'

Harry nodded to show that he had followed and understood what Healer Ogawa had said so far.

'Good,' Master Ripjaw spoke up. 'Now I have reviewed the results from the initial scans and spoken with both Healer Ogawa and Healer Rand about their observations.

'Now I would like to hear from you what your experiences and observations have been regarding the scar in the time you have had it. Once we have gone over that, we will then proceed to the actual examination of the scar itself.'

Harry nodded again to show he understood.

'Very well,' Master Ripjaw continued, 'I want you to tell us everything you know about your scar, from when you first became aware of it, till now. Including if it has ever caused you any pain. Please try and keep what you tell us in chronological order without giving any information which you did not become aware of until later.'

Harry sat and tried to put his thoughts in order. The time before Hogwarts was easy enough, but keeping things in order from his first year needed some thought.

He took a deep breath and began.

'Ok, I've always been aware of the scar as far back as I can remember, but I first asked my Aunt about it when I was about four or five I think. She told me I had gotten it in the car crash which had killed my parents...'

* * *

Ragnock, Amelia and Remus were in Ragnock's private sitting room again. He had invited them to have lunch with him while they discussed the meeting they had just had with Harry.

'You know,' Remus began, 'Harry's story may have been interesting, and it certainly answered our questions as to how he got bitten by a basilisk. But I think, for me at least, it raised even more questions than it answered.'

'Oh Merlin yes.' responded Amelia. 'That diary is the biggest one for me. Did it really come from Lucius Malfoy? Did it really possess Ginny Weasley as it appears to have done? Just what the hell is it that it could do that? If it was as Dark as it appeared to be, how could it get by the school wards without Dumbledore knowing about it? If he knew about it, why didn't Dumbledore do something about it? And was it completely destroyed when Harry stabbed it with that fang?

'I don't understand how Dumbledore could have let Malfoy just walk away with only a warning. At the very least he is obligated to inform the DMLE when he believes a crime may have been committed, so we can investigate. With Harry's testimony about the diary and his own reaction in Dumbledore's office we have more than enough evidence to bring him in for questioning.'

Ragnock interrupted her.

'All very true Amelia.' he began, 'I, unlike you however, have some suspicion as to what that diary was. And if I am correct, Miss Weasley will require treatment in addition to any that she may have received at Hogwarts.'

'She will?' 'What kind of treatment?' Amelia and Remus asked at the same time.

'She will most likely require treatment of some description. The exact treatment will depend on exactly what the diary was and the full extent of its interaction with her. I can think of three possibilities at the moment as to what it was, the treatment for each is similar but there are some differences.

'I believe Miss Weasley is the youngest daughter of Arthur and Molly Weasley, in which case her eldest brother works for Gringotts in Egypt as a Curse Breaker. Meaning he has at least some experience in these kind of things.

'I will have him contacted and the situation explained to him. We will then have him speak to his parents and arrange for Miss Weasley to be brought in to be examined and treated as necessary.'

'Good, Arthur and Molly are good people.' Amelia said. 'I'd hate to think that their daughter had to suffer any long term effects from this. Although I am afraid that I do have to say that I am not sure that the family will be able to cover the costs if the treatment involves specialists.'

'I understand Amelia, but I believe that Malfoy and Dumbledore will have to, _cover the tab_, as the saying goes. As it would appear to have been Malfoy who passed Miss Weasley the diary, and Dumbledore should have arranged for a proper examination and any treatment necessary while she was in his care at Hogwarts.

'As for the diary itself. I am as certain as I can be without actually examining it myself, that it was completely destroyed when Mr. Potter stabbed it. Each of the three possibilities I can think of it being would be destroyed by being stabbed with a basilisk fang that was rich in venom.' Ragnock stated.

'Although, I am still keen to view the actual memory of the event once the Healers give permission for it to be extracted. If for no other reason than to actually see the basilisk for myself. I have never even heard of one being bigger than fifteen foot in length, to see one which may be up to sixty feet or bigger would be fascinating.

'I think I may have to join the team which we will hopefully be sending to render the beast down, just for the chance to see it in the flesh.' he finished up.

Amelia and Remus both shuddered.

'I think I can do without seeing it in person.' said Remus. 'Viewing the memory is likely to be hard enough for me.'

Amelia nodded in agreement.

'Now,' Ragnock continued. 'You mentioned Lucius Malfoy earlier.'

Amelia nodded.

'I will have to ask you to delay in taking any action against him Amelia.' he said.

Amelia sat forward on her seat, opening her mouth to speak before Ragnock held up his hand to stop her.

'I have no intention of allowing Malfoy to avoid punishment for his actions.' he began. 'But if you will recall our conversation last night, our investigation into Mr. Potter's and Dumbledore's affairs did not stop with them.'

* * *

Harry, Ragnock, Amelia, Remus and Healer Rand were once again sitting in Ragnock's office. This time however, Senior Healer Ogawa and Master Ripjaw were also present.

The examination earlier that afternoon had been long and more or less boring for Harry.

After he had finished telling Master Ripjaw everything he could remember thinking, hearing or feeling about the scar on his head, he had been asked a series of questions to clarify some of what he had said earlier and then been told to lie down on the couch.

After that, it had been over two hours of the two Healers casting a variety of diagnostic spells under the direction of the Master Curse Breaker, while said Master had written down the results, sometimes Ripjaw had chanted his own spells alongside the Healers, sometimes he had done them while they stood back. Once Ripjaw had pulled some odd shaped pieces of what looked suspiciously like bone to Harry out of his pocket and placed them around and on Harry before chanting some more while waving his hands in what looked like a similar fashion to wand movements.

Eventually they had finished up and he had been sent to have some dinner and told they would meet him in Ragnock's office later to discuss their findings.

Which was why they were all sitting here now. It was time for Master Ripjaw to tell them what he had found out about his scar.

'To begin with,' Master Ripjaw started, 'I have to commend Senior Healer Ogawa here for his response to the initial diagnosis. While I have confirmed the identification of the Dark Magic in Mr. Potter's scar and we have options in how we deal with it. If this had not taken place now, within one, or at most, two years, there would only have been one option available to us. Which would have been to kill Mr. Potter.'

'WHAT!' Remus and Amelia both exclaimed, rising to their feet.

'Fortunately,' Ripjaw continued, while Ragnock motioned Amelia and Remus to sit back down, 'that is not the only option we have at this time. As his condition has been brought to our attention in time for the other options to still be available.'

Ripjaw paused and Amelia quickly leaned forward in her seat.

'Please, just what could be so bad that killing Harry would be considered as a _treatment_ option?' she asked.

'Mr. Potter's scar is not, as was previously believed, the result of the Killing Curse.' Ripjaw began his explanation. 'It is in fact part of the defence his mother raised for him.'

Both Amelia and Remus looked confused but interested and motioned for him to continue.

'The Wizarding World for some reason look at Mr. Potter's scar and see it as a lightning bolt.

'I, on the other hand, see the Rune, Sowilo. Which is the rune for victory.'

Remus's eyes lit up at that.

'Of course!' he said. 'Lily wasn't just good at Charms and Potions, she was close to the top of her class in Ancient Runes as well.

'But how would she power it? The rune on its own wouldn't do much at all.'

'Of course it wouldn't Mr. Lupin.' Ripjaw stated. 'Exactly what Mrs. Potter did that night is impossible to determine at this late date. But I suspect that she performed a ritual for Mr. Potter's defence, with the rune on his head as the centrepiece.

'I also suspect that Mrs. Potter provided the power required, as the accounts that I have seen state that although her wand was found next to her, she did not actually cast any spells in either her own defence, or in the defence of her son. That would suggest to me, that she was magically exhausted at the time and incapable of using magic to defend herself or her son.'

'That actually makes a lot of sense to me Master Ripjaw.' said Amelia. 'I've read the reports from that night as well. And it always struck me as odd that Lily hadn't cast any spells. Both Lily and James were well known as being very capable fighters, even though they were still so young.'

'I do have some additional evidence as well.' Ripjaw continued.

'The first, is that the scans indicate there are two magical signatures emanating from the scar. Neither of which belong to Mr. Potter. I believe that if it were possible to compare them, we would find that one belongs to Mrs. Potter, and the other to the one who calls himself Voldemort.'

Both Amelia and Remus looked shocked while Ragnock continued to look on impassively.

'The second, is that the scans also found blood that does not belong to Mr. Potter within the scar. I was able to take a small sample of this blood and have it tested.

'According to our records, the blood belonged to Mr. Potter's mother, Lily Potter. Which would indicate that whatever ritual she used involved Blood Magic, which as you know is some of the most powerful magic that exists.'

Ripjaw paused to give Amelia and Remus some time to assimilate what he had just told them.

Eventually Ragnock spoke up.

'Please continue Master Ripjaw. While this information is extremely interesting, it does not tell us what the Dark Magic within the scar is, or how you plan on removing it.'

'Very well.' Ripjaw began. 'What we have found within Mr. Potter's scar, tells us that Voldemort was practicing the vilest of the Dark Arts. Necromantic Soul Magic.'

Amelia looked confused, while Remus had a look of concentration on his face. Ragnock simply looked grim.

'We found a fragment of Voldemort's soul lodged within Mr. Potter's scar.' Ripjaw said.

Amelia and Remus both slumped in their seats with a horrified look on their faces.

Harry just sat there, frozen in shock. He had known that whatever they had found wasn't good, but he hadn't suspected this. He hadn't even known that you could break a soul into pieces.

'Now, the fragment is not currently active. Which means that this is a case of what we call, _passive possession_.

'This means we have the opportunity to transfer the fragment from Mr. Potter to a different container, which can then be destroyed.

'If the fragment had become active, it would have attempted to take full possession of Mr. Potter's body, in which case, if Mr. Potter failed in preventing it from succeeding, our only option would have been to kill him.'

Remus spoke up.

'You are certain you can transfer this soul fragment from Harry then?' he asked.

'Not certain, no.' was Ripjaw's answer.

'If Mr. Potter had been brought to me earlier, then there would have been a great deal less risk in the procedure. Now though, the risk is greater. The alternative however, is certain. The fragment will eventually attempt to fully possess Mr. Potter and the longer it is until it makes that attempt, the more likely it is to succeed.'

'What do you mean, the risk is greater? And why would the fragment be more likely to succeed in possessing Harry the longer it waits before trying?' Amelia asked.

'The fragment is currently contained within the scar by the protection Mrs. Potter put in place.' Ripjaw explained. 'Unfortunately, just over one year ago, Mr. Potter was attacked by the person Voldemort was then possessing. Defending against that attack weakened the protection to the point that the fragment was able to create a connection to Mr. Potter's magic.

'The connection it created was not enough for it to actively attack Mr. Potter at that time, but it is allowing the fragment to leach a small amount of Mr. Potter's magic on a constant basis, thereby increasing its own strength for when it makes its inevitable attempt to take control.

'The ritual which we will be using to remove the fragment from Mr. Potter, will awaken the fragment, and it will attempt to resist being moved. Before it had this connection to Mr. Potter's magic, it would have had very little strength with which to resist. Now however, it is gaining in strength every day.

'I will be travelling back to Egypt tomorrow. The fragments connection to Mr. Potter's magic, and the bindings that are on his magic, are complicating factors. I need to discuss with my colleagues what effect releasing the bindings may have on the fragment and whether it would be better to release the binding before or after we carry out the ritual to remove the fragment.

'If we decide to carry out the ritual before the bindings are removed, then I plan on doing so in two weeks time, once Mr. Potter is as physically fit and healthy as the Healers can get him.

'If the decision is to wait until after the bindings on his magic have been removed, then I would prefer to wait for at least one week after that has been completed before undertaking the ritual, to give Mr. Potter time to recover and his magic time to settle down from being released.

'I would also wish to present when the bindings are released, so that I can monitor any reaction from the fragment during the process.

'I will inform you as soon as the decision has been made, so that the Healers here can tailor their treatment accordingly.'

**A/N – **The idea of Harry's scar being a rune isn't new. I first came across it about a year ago. Unfortunately I can't remember the title of the story or the name of the author. I do recall that it was Lucius Malfoy who recognised the rune in that story. If I come across it again I'll update this to credit the author.

**Update **- Thanks to Laverne for reminding me. The story I first read it in was **The Best Revenge** by **Arsinoe de Blassenville**.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

**Chapter 6**

The adults were gathered together in Ragnock's private quarters again.

It was three days since they had been told that there was a soul fragment lodged in Harry's scar and they were here to discuss what had been uncovered since. They also had a number of memories that Healer Rand had gotten from Harry to review.

Amelia started.

'I've been checking the Ministry records for anything to do with Sirius Black.

'So far, all I've been able to find are the initial arrest reports and the order to transport him to Azkaban which were signed off on by Barty Crouch. I haven't been able to find anything about his questioning, witness reports or his trial.

'I'm beginning to think that there was no follow-up investigation or trial, but I've still got some checks to make. I haven't been able to access the Chief Warlock's private files as yet. I hope to be able to do that next week when he leaves on his annual holiday.'

'This confirms our findings Amelia.' Ragnock said. 'When the Ministry attempted to seize Mr. Black's personal account, and to have the Black Family account transferred to the control of Narcissa Malfoy as her son's Regent on the death of Arcturus Black, we requested proof on Mr. Black's conviction. This proof was never provided and so we rejected the Ministries request.'

'Good, once Albus is away, I intend to have Sirius brought back to the DMLE holding cells, where I can question him properly.' Amelia continued.

'We here, know that he didn't betray the Potter's, so if I can get a veritaserum backed statement from him to that effect and that he wasn't a Death Eater, and anything like a fair court, I can probably get him released for time served for killing Pettigrew and those muggles.'

'That's all very well Amelia,' said Remus, 'but you know that Dumbledore will try and stop you.'

'Ah,' interjected Ragnock, 'but that is where we come in.

'Our investigation into Dumbledore has now gone as far as it can go without questioning the man himself. It is our intention, therefore, to invite him to a meeting with Ironfist on the morning he is due to leave on his holiday. Once he is in Ironfist's office, he will be arrested and taken to our holding cells for questioning.

'With only a little luck, he should not be missed until the date he is due back from his holiday.'

'You are aware that Dumbledore has a phoenix? Aren't you?' asked Remus delicately.

'Of course we are.' replied Ragnock. 'We are actually hoping that Dumbledore will be foolish enough to call it when he is arrested.'

'But...' began Remus.

'You don't honestly think,' interrupted Ragnock, 'that just because wizards have never developed a way to prevent a phoenix from going anywhere it wishes, that we goblins had not?

'Gringotts developed a ward that prevents phoenix travel within ten years of the bank being founded. We could not guarantee the security of our vaults otherwise.

'It is our intention to lower that ward in Ironfist's office for Dumbledore's meeting. Should he call his phoenix, it will be able to enter the bank, and the ward will then be raised to prevent it from leaving.

'Our main concern, is that phoenix's are creatures of the light. Given Dumbledore's action, he must have either concealed his actions from it, in which case, once it is aware of what he has done, it will leave him. Or he has used some sort of binding on it to prevent it from leaving him and to force it to obey him.

'If it is the first instance, the fact that it has left him, will add credence to our case.

'If it is the second instance, well, it will be one more charge against him and we will look into breaking the binding.'

'That's all very good, but what kind of sentence do you think he will get? And just how do you expect to prevent the Wizengamot and the Ministry from declaring war on you for arresting and imprisoning Dumbledore?' asked Amelia.

'Well, I have been talking to our legal experts. For the crimes we can charge him for under Goblin Law, we expect him to receive a sentence of between fifteen and twenty five years. Depending on what exactly he has to say when we question him. This doesn't count any new crimes the questioning uncovers however.

'As for how we expect to avoid a war. One of our experts came up with a solution you might like. The others have looked into it and agree that it workable.

Ragnock paused for a moment before continuing.

'Our expert pointed out, that it is an article of Law, that the accused is entitled to a fair and unbiased court. What is commonly overlooked however, is that the prosecution is also entitled to the same.'

Amelia and Remus looked at him, mystified but interested in where he was heading with this.

'Now, given that we have presented you with evidence against your Chief Warlock, the Minister for Magic and multiple other, high ranking members of your Wizengamot and Ministry, many of whom have already demonstrated that they can bribe their way out of any charges against them. How can you reasonably expect the Wizengamot to provide a fair and unbiased court for any of these cases?'

Remus was now looking confused, but there was a dawning light of recognition in Amelia's eyes.

'Now, our expert pointed out,' Ragnock continued, 'that there is precedent for such a situation. When the local authorities are unable to provide a fair and unbiased court, they are expected to submit the case to an independent court.

'In this case, that gives us four options.

'You could request that one of the other Ministries hear the case. Which is not currently acceptable, as Britain is not on good terms with any of the other Ministries at the moment. And their courts could therefore hardly be said to be unbiased in such high profile cases.

'You could ask the ICW to hear the case. Which is not acceptable as Dumbledore is currently the Supreme Mugwump and as such they can hardly be said to be unbiased where he is concerned.

'You could ask the muggles to hear the case. But you would first have to find qualified people who already know about the Wizarding World, and asking muggles to preside over such an important case would not go down very well with a significant portion of the Wizarding World in any case. Plus there would undoubtedly be many accusations of using magic to tamper with the court from all sides since the muggles are unable to defend themselves from such things.

'Finally, you could ask the Goblin Nation to preside over the case. While relations are not at their best between our nations at the moment, they also are not at their worst. We goblins also have a reputation for being sticklers for the rules and not liking _any_ wizard or witch. It is not a completely accurate reputation, as there are some wizards and witches we get on with quite well, but in this instance it works to our advantage. Finally, we already have people who are both knowledgeable about British Wizarding and Muggle Law and are qualified to serve on such a court.'

'You know...' Amelia said. 'That just might work. For the actual court cases themselves at least.

'It still doesn't help in actually getting them into court to face trial. Fudge would shut me down if I tried to put out a warrant for the majority of the people on our list. Not to mention that I would need to get the agreement of three quarters of the department head in the Ministry before I could arrest Fudge and with three of the heads being on the list that just isn't going to happen.'

'We do actually have a few ideas on how to deal with that situation as well Amelia.' said Ragnock. 'But as Remus and Healer Rand are not necessary for that discussion, and we have several memories to look at, why don't we discus it later.

'We do have almost a full month before Dumbledore is due back from his holiday and will be missed after all.'

* * *

Four people stepped away from the pensieve having just completed watching the memories from Harry's first year at Hogwarts. Shock was visible one the faces of the three humans, but it was anger that was showing on the Ragnock's face, if you knew what to look for.

Healer Rand got her voice first.

'Of all the idiotic, imbecilic, condescending, two-face...' she ran out of insults she was willing to use in front of Ragnock.

'The stupid, arrogant, patronising, bastard.' Remus continued on.

'Amelia, how many of the students who were at Hogwarts that year do you think you could interview before Dumbledore is put on trial?' he asked.

'I could probably manage to interview all of them within a week if I needed to. Why?' she asked.

'Well, I don't know about you, but when I was school age. Someone telling me not to go somewhere because it was dangerous, just made it more attractive.' Remus carried on.

'I know that the Marauders would have started planning as soon as they got back to their dorm room after Dumbledore's little speech. They would have seen it as a challenge.'

'You really think...' Amelia started before Remus cut her off.

'Yes, I'd be willing to be that at least three quarters of Gryffindor, and at least half of both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff made at least an attempt to find out what was in that corridor. Slytherin... maybe about a quarter might have gone up for a look.

'We also need to know if there were any alarm wards in place. Because either Quirrell took them down, or none of the staff were alerted by them.'

'Good point Remus,' Amelia said, 'I also thought it a quite a strange coincidence that Dumbledore arrived just in time to prevent Quirrell from killing Harry before dying himself. Which would suggest that the alarms were keyed only to Dumbledore himself.'

'I shall ensure that he is questioned in detail about these matters.' said Ragnock. 'It will be interesting to find out just what his intentions were. Was the stone merely bait in a trap, or was there more involved?

'I am also interested in finding out just what Dumbledore has been doing to prepare for Voldemort's return, given that he was obviously expecting it to happen.'

'Well I can guarantee that Dumbledore won't be at Hogwarts next year regardless of what happens with the court case.' Amelia stated. 'Nine out of the twelve School Governor's have children who are either school age or are due to start in the next two to three years. I doubt that any of them will be willing to leave a Headmaster in place who is willing to use the school as a place to bait a trap.'

'Ok, time is getting on and we still have to view the memories from last year. We can continue the discussion after we have reviewed the remaining memories.' said Ragnock.

* * *

Four people stumbled away from the pensieve, a mixture of shock and disbelief showing on all of their faces.

They had just finished watching Harry's memories from his second year at Hogwarts, and had agreed to watch the fight with the basilisk last of all.

They made their way back to their seats and each of them quickly picked up the firewhiskey that was sitting waiting for them and drank it in one go.

Once they had gathered their thoughts, they each looked around at the others. Wondering who was going to speak first.

'I think,' Amelia began, 'that the second thing I am going to do tomorrow after watching that, is start preparing the paperwork for Harry to awarded an Order of Merlin.'

'The second thing?' asked Healer Rand.

'Yes.' Amelia replied. 'Right after I go and shout at Harry for being as foolish and idiotic and brave for doing what he did instead of getting Minerva and Flitwick to deal with things.'

'I agree, hearing him talk about facing a sixty foot snake is one thing. But watching it was shocking. I was terrified, even though I knew it was only a memory and that he had survived the thing.' Remus commented.

'Actually Remus, after watching that memory, I believe sixty feet may well be a conservative estimate. It was moving too quickly to allow for any kind of accurate measurement of its length to be made. But the main part of its body did appear to be somewhere around five or six feet in diameter.' Ragnock said. 'It has been a while since I last studied venomous magical snakes, but I believe the correlation between diameter and length for basilisks would place it around the seventy foot mark if my memory is correct.'

'And you said he could expect to get about 200,000 galleons for a ten foot basilisk, just what do you think he might get for this one?' asked Amelia.

'Well,' Ragnock answered, 'a basilisk gets more potent with age and size. So I would hazard a guess at somewhere between two and three million.'

Everyone sat and contemplated that for a minute.

'That's a fair chunk of money.' said Remus at last. 'Even for Harry.'

'Yes, it is,' said Ragnock, 'and I believe he could expect to gain as much as another million if he was to give his consent to it being put on display for a short period of time before it is fully rendered down.'

'As much as that?' asked Amelia in surprise.

'Easily.' replied Ragnock. 'Consider, we have Salazar Slytherin's own basilisk, the largest basilisk ever seen. Which was killed by Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, using the sword of Godric Gryffindor which has been missing since Gryffindor died.

'The level of interest in viewing the carcass will be phenomenal, it won't be a case of asking who wants to view it, but more along the lines of who doesn't.'

'That's true,' said Remus, 'interest would be off the scale.

'You know...' he tailed off in thought.

'I wonder,' he continued on at the questioning looks from the others, 'if it might be possible to display it in the Chamber of Secrets itself?

'I mean, we expect to get rid of Dumbledore and a lot of the worst of the pureblood bigots this summer. With the right management in place why not display it in the place it was killed if we can arrange it. I would expect the Board to jump at the chance for some positive publicity for Hogwarts, especially after the hit they are about to take with Dumbledore.'

'An excellent idea Remus,' exclaimed Ragnock, 'of course, it is all contingent on Mr. Potter's agreement and the Chamber and the entrance to it would have to be thoroughly checked to ensure it was safe and there are no nasty surprises to be found by visitor's, but it would be the perfect place to display the beast.'

'Well, now that you have got that settled,' Healer Rand spoke up, 'perhaps we could discuss the rest of what we saw?'

'Yes, I'm looking forward to the upcoming conversations I am going to be having with Fudge and Malfoy.' said Amelia.

'Fudge?' questioned Remus.

'Yes, Fudge.' said Amelia. 'He might be the Minister, but he doesn't have the authority to arrest anyone. If he wants to have someone arrested, he has to come to me and have a warrant made out, then that warrant gets passed to the Auror's who then go and make the arrest.

'There weren't any Auror's present, and there wasn't any warrant for Hagrid's arrest, so he had no authority to remove him from Hogwarts. And Dumbledore knows that, which is another mark against him as well.

'There's also the fact that it is only those found guilty at trial and sentenced specifically to Azkaban that get sent there. Those awaiting trial and those convicted of minor offences spend their time in the cells in the Ministry. And once again, Dumbledore knows that.

'As for Malfoy... His reaction in Dumbledore's office is enough for me to question him about the diary. I'll need to look at the memory from Flourish and Blotts again and maybe get memories from some of the other's who were present. If I can see him passing a diary to Ginny Weasley, then I can question him under veritaserum and I can expand the questioning from there.

'There is also Dumbledore's mention of the School Governor's having been threatened to get them to vote to remove Dumbledore. I can investigate that and see how many of them I can get to press charges against Malfoy.

'And finally, from the memory of just after that elf was freed, I can also charge him with attempted assault on Harry as well.'


	7. Chapter 7

A/N – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

I'm looking for some cover art for this story, if any artists, budding or otherwise, are interested, please contact me via PM.

**Chapter 7**

Harry was sitting in one of the easy chairs in front of the fireplace in his rooms. The last week had been rather hectic and overwhelming and the chance to just sit back and relax a little was just too good to pass up. It also gave him a chance to think back over things.

He had only known Dumbledore for just under two years now, and really only met him a few times, but he had already begun to think of him as someone to trust, someone who would look out for him. Finding out the things Dumbledore had done to him, the information he had kept hidden from him... Well, it was a little shocking to say the least and he was still trying to come to terms with it all.

First, Dumbledore had dumped him with the Dursley's, then he'd sealed his parents Will and denied him knowledge of his Family history and heritage. He had also either arranged for, or allowed for his godfather to be sent to prison without trial, before setting himself up as his Wizarding Guardian and then helping himself to money from his account. He had been limited in the amount he could take, fortunately, but 2,000 galleons a month mounted up to a significant amount over the years. 280,000 Galleons to be exact. Then there were the items he had taken from his vault. The cloak, a pensieve and a large number of books which had been in the house in Godric's Hollow. It was just as well that he hadn't been able to access the main Family Vault or the Family Manor where the majority of the Family belonging and gold were.

Of course, he couldn't access them either, so he had no real idea what was there himself, but he would rather it was there waiting for him than that it was in Dumbledore's hands or pockets.

Then there was the house in Godric's Hollow itself, which Dumbledore had signed off on being designated as a National Monument by the Ministry, without any compensation given for a property which had been in the Family for over 1200 years.

Next was the bindings he had placed on his magic, which obviously had made things much harder for him than they should have been. It was going to be interesting to explore the difference in his magic and find out what he could do with it once the bindings were removed.

Finally there were his last two years at Hogwarts to consider and just how much of what had happened there was just happenstance and how much was manipulated by Dumbledore.

He looked up at a knock at the door.

'Come in.' he called out.

The door opened and Remus walked in.

'Good morning Harry.' he said.

'Morning Remus.' Harry replied. 'You here for something in particular, or just to talk?'

'A bit of both Harry, a bit of both.' Remus replied.

Harry gestured towards the three empty easy chairs.

'Well, unless you've got paperwork needing filling out, pick a seat.' he said.

'No paperwork you'll be happy to hear.' Remus said once he was seated. 'Although I do have a couple of letters for you. One arrived last night, and the other this morning.

'From the descriptions of the owls, I'd say the one last night is from your friend Ron Weasley, and Hedwig brought in the other one this morning. So I'm guessing that it's probably from Hermione Granger since you said before that she doesn't have an owl of her own and Hedwig decided to go and collect it from her.'

'Oh good,' said Harry, 'I was wondering when I'd hear from them. Ron was going to let me know when they were going on that holiday his parents were talking about going. And Hermione was after me to write to her before she went to France. I'm surprised it's taken her this long to chase me up on it.'

'Well, be careful what you say in your replies. We don't want to tip Dumbledore off that you're not at the Dursley's.

'The glamour's the goblins staying at Privet Drive are using are enough to fool a casual inspection, but if he gets suspicious and takes a closer look he'll see through them quickly. And since we can't be sure he's not intercepting your mail or isn't in contact with the Granger's or Weasley's, we're best off assuming that he'll read anything you send Ron and Hermione.'

'Yeah, I'm going to have to think about what to say to Hermione. Ron's easy enough. Just that things are boring and that I'm being kept busy with chores. But Hermione's bound to push for more detail than that.' Harry said. 'At least there should only be time for one letter to her, what with her going to France in another week, and hopefully things will be a bit more settled by the time she comes back from that.'

'Well, I can help you if you want.' Remus said. 'Not the actual writing of course, but with what you can and can't put in the letters.'

'That'd be great Remus.' Harry replied.

'Well, now that we've got that out of the way, why don't we start on the main reason I came here this morning.' Remus said. 'Your schoolwork.'

Harry scowled and Remus grinned back at him.

'Now I realise that you probably hadn't thought about the fact that Amelia and myself would be interested in how you were doing in your education, and that you likely hoped we were too busy with other things to look into it just yet.

'But, Amelia is next in line to look after you since the Longbottom's aren't available. And then there's the fact that while I might not be related to you by blood, I do think of you as a nephew.

So, you might as well accept that we are interested in how you are doing at school.'

Harry sighed and looked away.

'Harry.' Remus said. 'It's okay, we both know you aren't used to having people who care and who want you to do your best.

'I've also spoken to the Healer's and Amelia managed to get hold of your school reports from before Hogwarts.'

Harry's head snapped up and he stared at Remus.

'I'm fairly sure I know why your marks are fairly average Harry.' Remus continued quietly. 'Do you want to talk about it?'

'The Dursley's...' Harry started before tailing off. Remus just sat and waited.

Eventually he started talking again.

'They didn't want to send me to school you know. Dudley had gone to pre-school, but they hadn't sent me.

'I was just a no good layabout, with unemployed, drunken, _dead_ parents.

'I heard them talking at night, after they thought Dudley and me were asleep about whether they needed to send me to school, but they finally decided that it might cause some trouble if I didn't go.

'I loved that first year. Dudley wouldn't let me make any friends of course, but learning to read and write and my numbers was great.

'Here was my chance to show them that I wasn't worthless.

'Then we got our report cards at the end of the year, and mine was good and Dudley's wasn't.

'They told me I must have cheated, and that there was no way I could be better at anything than Dudley. They made it perfectly clear that if it happened again, that I wouldn't enjoy the experience at all.'

He stopped talking again and just sat looking blankly at the far wall.

'And what did you do then?' Remus asked gently.

'I made sure that my marks were always lower than Dudley's were.' Harry replied.

'It wasn't always easy to be honest. He never tried at school at all. Always made me do his homework for him as well. I had to learn the stuff well enough that I could make sure to answer enough questions wrong to get a worse score than him.'

'That's more or less what I thought.' said Remus. 'Your first report card had you doing really well and at or near the top of your class. And then the next year you were right down at the bottom.'

'Yeah well, I'm sure Dudley has _some_ brains, somewhere, but he's never tried to actually use them.' Harry said.

'So how well do you think you'd have done if you hadn't been throwing the tests?' Remus asked.

Harry looked away for a minute.

'Pretty near the top of the class probably.' he finally answered.

'I'd looked into things after a few years. I'd figured out that I just had to make it through to my 'O' Grades and then I'd be able to get a job and move out and away from them.

'I knew Dudley would be going to Smeltings while I would be going to Stonewall High, which meant Dudley wouldn't be able to spy on me during school.

'I just had to keep my marks down until it was time to sit my 'O' Grades and then do my best in them so I could get a decent job.

'I didn't know anything about magic or Hogwarts, so I wasn't expecting the Hogwarts letter.'

'Ah yes, Hogwarts.' Remus said. 'Tell me Harry, we haven't really had much of a chance to talk about them much yet, just how much do you know about your parents?'

Harry stared at him, puzzled by the unexpected question.

'Almost nothing.' he answered. 'Hagrid gave an album with photo's of them, so I know what they looked like. And everyone tells me they were really great people. But every time I try asking anyone about them, they just clam up and refuse to answer any of my questions.'

Remus looked both sad and upset at the same time.

'Well, we've got the rest of the summer for me to start making up for that.

'But did none of the Professor's say anything about how they had done at school?'

'No,' replied Harry, 'Not that I can remember anyway.'

'Well, I can tell you that both your Mum and Dad did really well at Hogwarts.

'In fact, between your parents, Sirius and myself, we took four of the top five places every year. And one of the four of us was the top student in each of the subjects except for Divination each year. Your Mum was the top student overall every year we were there.'

Harry just looked at him in disbelief.

'James excelled in Transfiguration and Ancient Runes.' Remus continued.

'Lily was top in Charms, Potions and Herbology.

'Sirius was best in Defence, Care of Magical Creatures and History

'I headed up Astronomy, Arithmancy and Muggle Studies.

'But we were all at least fairly good in everything.'

'But...' Harry paused, 'But why didn't anyone say anything about that to me. I tried asking Hagrid and Professor McGonagall about them and all either of them would say was that they were good people and had fought against Voldemort after they left school.'

'I don't know Harry.' Remus replied. 'Although I hope we'll get some answers once Dumbledore is arrested and questioned. We'll also be able to ask Hagrid and Professor McGonagall then as well. McGonagall especially is someone I would have expected would have had high expectations of you when you arrived at Hogwarts.

'She was very proud of how good James was at Transfiguration and Lily was always one of her favourite students right from her very first day in class from how eager she was to learn as much as she could.

'But we've wandered a bit far afield. This conversation is supposed to be about how you're doing at Hogwarts.

'As I said earlier, I've spoken to the Healer's and I'm aware that the bindings on your magic make it harder for you to actually perform the spells that it should be. So I'm actually quite surprised at how well you've been doing with the practical side of Transfiguration, Charms and Defence. But your Reports all say you're weak on the theory side of things and that your homework essays are poor and your handwriting is terrible.

Harry stared at the floor.

'Harry...' Remus spoke quietly. 'Are you really struggling with the theory side of things, or are you holding back?'

Harry said nothing for a minute before speaking.

'Both.' he finally muttered.

'Both.' repeated Remus. 'So you're struggling to understand the theory _and_ your holding back on what you do understand.'

'Yeah, I guess so.' Harry replied.

'Ok,' said Remus.

'Why don't we start with why you're struggling with the theory first. We can talk about why you're holding back after that.'

Harry just sat there, saying nothing.

'Now, according to Professor McGonagall, you're doing well enough in the actual classroom. You rarely volunteer to answer questions, but when you are asked a question, you usually come up with a reasonable answer.

'I'm not counting Potions in this, since we both know that Professor Snape wouldn't acknowledge your abilities even if you were a certified genius.

'The problem seems to lie mostly in your homework essays and the exams. And Professor McGonagall has expressed the belief that your main problem is in not spending enough time on your homework or revising.

'Does that sound about right to you?'

'I guess so.' Harry answered after a long pause.

Remus waited to see if Harry would continue on, but he just sat there, silent.

'Harry,' he finally said, 'it's ok, you're not in trouble about this. I just want to know _why._

'If I know _why_, then we can work together to fix things.'

Remus paused again to see if Harry would volunteer anything, but Harry kept his eyes fixed on the floor and said nothing.

'So why aren't you spending enough time on your homework Harry? I know you're on the Quidditch team, but I also know that that still leaves you more than enough time for doing your homework. Your Dad managed it well enough during his time at Hogwarts and still had plenty of time left over for playing pranks on people after all.

'And I also know from what you've said about your friend Hermione, that she is very much into studying and is at the top of the class. So why haven't you been spending enough time with her doing your own homework?'

Harry continued to stare at the floor.

'Is it your other friend? Ron?' asked Remus.

'The one you said was mad on chess and Quidditch?'

Harry finally answered.

'Every time we sit down in the common room he just wants to talk about Quidditch, or whatever the latest new story going around the school is. Or he wants to play a game of chess.'

Now that he had started talking, it was as if the floodgates had opened.

'He's not interested in studying. He's always goofing off in class, never really paying attention and trying to distract me. The only things he cares about is chess and Quidditch. And he never listens to me when I try and tell him I want to study. And anytime Hermione mentions doing homework or revising, he always starts in on her.

'Unless of course, it's due in the next day. Then he wants to copy her homework and he'll spend ages arguing with her until she gives in and lets him.

'At least I do my own homework. I let her look over it and make corrections and suggestions, but I do the actual work myself. Even though it's hard to find the time when Ron isn't trying to drag me off to do something else.'

He subsided into silence and returned his gaze to the floor once more. Remus sat there looking at him for a couple of minutes. Thinking over what Harry had just said, and what he hadn't said as well.

'Ok,' he finally said. 'We can work on that.'

Harry looked up at him, and expression of surprise on his face. Remus chuckled.

'Harry,' he said. 'I spent my time at school with your Mum, Dad, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew.

'Now, I didn't spend all that much time around your Mum in the first few years, but the two of us were pretty similar to how you've described your friend Hermione. Sirius was more like your friend Ron, always wanting to goof off and do something he found more interesting than school work. Your Dad was somewhere in between. And Peter... well Peter to be honest was always more of a hanger on than anything else.'

'Really?' Harry asked.

'Yes. Really.' Remus replied. 'It took me a couple of years to work out how to motivate your Dad and Sirius properly, but I managed it eventually.

'Now though, we've covered your schoolwork and revising. We still need to talk about your exams.'

Harry scowled and looked away again.

'Look Harry,' Remus began. 'I can understand that you haven't exactly had an easy time of it these last two years at Hogwarts. We've already covered the homework and revising issue, and then there's the whole Philosophers Stone and Quirrell situation in your first year, and then the Chamber of Secrets problem in your second year.'

Harry was beginning to look slightly more hopeful about where this was going, but Remus then brought him back down to earth with a bump.

'But you said earlier that you were also holding back.'

He paused to see if Harry would say something, but he just sat there silently, refusing to say anything.

'Why? Why are you holding back?' Remus asked.

'I can understand why you held back at Primary School,' he continued when Harry failed to respond.

'But that reason doesn't count now you're at Hogwarts. The Dursley's might have been sent a copy of your school reports, I'm not sure if that happened or not to be honest, but they wouldn't have understood them unless you explained them to them. And I seriously doubt they would have asked you to do that.'

Harry remained silent and hunched down in his seat and Remus sat watching him. Finally he made up his mind. He was going to play a hunch here and see if he was right.

'You want to know what I think Harry?' he asked. 'I think you're scared.'

Harry looked up at him startled.

'We've spent plenty of time talking this week about various things, but one thing that's stood out for me, is that when it comes to friends, or people you do things with. There are only two names mentioned. Ron and Hermione.

'You've already said that Ron is the main problem when it comes to homework and revising. I think you're scared that if you do better than him, he'll leave you. I mean, you already let him stop you from working during the year as it is.

'And it's pretty clear to me that Hermione is all about her schoolwork and doing well in exams, so you're worried that she'd leave you if you did better than her as well.'

'No!' Harry exclaimed. 'Hermione's not like that. She wouldn't leave me just because I did better than her in some stupid exam. She wouldn't.'

'No?' Remus asked. 'The expression on your face tells me you're not exactly certain about that. Are you?

'Plus, I notice you didn't say anything about Ron there.'

Harry hung his head.

'I already know how Ron would react.' he muttered.

'He's jealous of his older brothers. Bill was Head Boy, Charlie was Quidditch Captain, Percy is a Prefect and the twins are just maniacs.

'When we looked in the Mirror of Erised, he saw himself as Head Boy and Quidditch Captain, holding the Quidditch Trophy and House Cup. But he's not willing to do the things that might actually get him those things. He just wants them handed to him.

'He's already jealous of me at times 'cause I'm famous. As if I want to be the Boy-Who-Lived. And 'cause I have my own money while he's poor.

'If I start doing better than him at school then I _know_ he's going to get jealous again.'

'So... you're holding back because you think that if you do better than Ron, he won't want to be your friend anymore. And you're not sure how Hermione will react, but you're worried that she will be the same.' Remus said.

Harry returned to looking at the floor.

'Harry...' Remus said, then paused before deciding to be blunt. 'A true friend won't care about your exam results.'

Harry looked at him.

'Look,' Remus continued. 'I agree with you, that you might be right about Ron. From everything you've said about him, he's the jealous type. It's possible that he'll decide that he doesn't want to be your friend anymore if you start putting in the effort at school and doing well in your exams.

'But if he does, well... he's not really a friend is he? And I'm sure that if you made the effort, that you could make other friends. There are a lot of people around your age at the school, yet you spend all your time with Ron and Hermione. You should make a point of making other friends, regardless of how those two respond.

'And as for Hermione, you're worried she might drop you as well.

'Well, the same thing goes for her as for Ron. But you know? She might just take you doing well as a challenge.'

Harry looked quizzical. Remus grinned at him.

'You want to know how I got your Dad, Sirius and Peter to do their homework and revise?'

Harry nodded.

'I made them a bet half way through first year.

'I bet them that I would beat them in every class and convinced them to each put up a one galleon stake per class and another galleon for top overall. The person who got the top marks in each class got four galleons once the results were given out. Plus another four for the overall.

'Of course, by the time we were in seventh year, the stakes were up to five galleons a class and your Mum was part of it as well.'

Harry laughed.

'You got them to study with a bet?' he asked.

Remus nodded.

'Yep, and I made sure to renew the bet at the start of every year.

'Your Mum was horrified at first when she found out at the start of sixth year.' he added. 'But once I explained to her why we'd started it, she was pretty quick to join in.

'Gave your Dad even more incentive to study that did.' Remus grinned. 'He didn't want to lose to his new girlfriend.' he explained.

Harry grinned back at him.

'I wonder if that would work with Ron and Hermione.' he mused. 'We couldn't bet money though. Ron doesn't have enough for that to work and the reminder that I've got money and he doesn't would just make him jealous, so we'd have to bet something else.

'No, it wouldn't work. Even if he took the bet, he'd just assume that Hermione'd be the best in everything and not bother trying.'

'So just make separate bets then.' said Remus. 'One set of bets with Ron and another set with Hermione.

'And that way you can bet different amounts with each of them as well.'

'Sounds good.' said Harry. 'I'll need to think about it some more though.'

'Ok, now, as I'm sure you remember,' Remus started. 'I mentioned that I'd spoken to the Healer's.'

Harry frowned briefly in thought, then nodded.

'Well, they and Ripjaw have finally made their decision on the order they are going to proceed in.

'They've decided to deal with the bindings on your magic first. Before they deal with your scar.'

'So when do they plan on starting?' Harry asked.

'That depends on how you continue to respond to the various treatments and potions you're on at the moment. For now though, they expect to be ready to begin removing the binding next Wednesday. They'll spread the removal of them out over about a week to make it easier on you, then you'll have about a week to fully recover before they deal with your scar.

'Ripjaw expects you to need several days to recover from the procedure, so we're looking at another four weeks or so before we can start working on you getting your unbound magic under proper control.'

'I'm looking forward to it.' Harry grinned.

'I'm sure you are.' replied Remus with his own grin. 'What I'm sure you're not going to look forward to though, is what I have planned for you between now and then.'

Harry frowned apprehensively.

'Since you're stuck in here until the Healer's give you the all clear. Amelia and I have decided that since your school reports aren't up to scratch, it's time to do something about it.'

Harry scowled at him.

'That's right Harry, I'm sure you've worked out where I'm going with this.' Remus grinned again.

'We, meaning you and me, will be spending our time reviewing all your first and second year theory.'

Harry groaned.

'And as soon as the Healer's clear you for it, we'll be working on the practical stuff as well.' Remus finished up.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

I'm looking for some cover art for this story, if any artists, budding or otherwise, are interested, please contact me via PM.

**Chapter 8 **

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in the Great Hall eating his breakfast and having a last minute discussion with his Deputy before he left on his annual break from the school.

They had already covered the scheduled minor repairs to various parts of the school buildings and grounds, as well as the various supplies and equipment that would need replaced for the next term and it was now time to talk about the staff.

'As I am sure you are aware Minerva, Silvanus has finally decided to carry through with his threat to retire this year.' he stated.

'Oh dear, that means we have to find two new staff members this summer.' Minerva McGonagall said.

'Quite.' Dumbledore replied. 'I have already spoken to Hagrid about this, and he is prepared to take the Magical Creatures class if we are unable to procure a qualified replacement.'

'Are you sure Albus?' Minerva questioned him. 'You know what Hagrid is like. He just doesn't realise that what is safe for him, simply isn't safe for others, particularly not children.'

'I agree Minerva, hopefully we will be able to attract a suitable replacement. If we do not however, be assured that I shall speak to him about what is suitable for each year group to study.' Dumbledore reassured her.

'As for the Defence post, I believe I have that position filled already.'

'Really?' Minerva exclaimed. 'Already? That was quick. It normally takes you a while to fill the post.'

'Quite.' Dumbledore replied wryly. 'It was quite the lucky coincidence actually.

'I was already in correspondence with young Remus Lupin when Gilderoy was incapacitated. I mentioned what had happened in my next letter and that I was once again going to have to find a replacement. Remus responded by offering himself for the position if I could not find a better candidate.'

'Remus Lupin...' Minerva mused. 'That's a name I haven't heard in years.

'If I recall correctly, he pushed Lily hard for the top spot all the way through their years here. And he was truly talented at Defence. I don't think I've seen anyone else with his natural aptitude for the subject since.

'Yes Albus, I think young Remus might be just the person for the job if he is interested in taking it.'

'I am glad you agree with me Minerva.' Dumbledore said. 'However, we would need to gain the agreement of the rest of the staff before the position can be definitely offered to him.'

Minerva looked at him blankly for a minute before a look of understanding crossed her face.

'Oh, of course. His condition. I had forgotten all about that.

'Damn those bigots in the Ministry and Wizengamot for passing those anti-werewolf laws.

'Well, you leave the rest of the staff to me Albus. I'll talk to them and get their agreement. And I'll speak with Poppy about making sure we have suitable arrangements in place for the nights in question.

'I will also _speak_ to Severus about making the Wolfsbane Potion for him.'

'Very well then Minerva.' Dumbledore said. 'I shall leave the search for suitable candidates for the Creatures class up to you. As well as the finalisation of Remus's employment as the Defence Professor once you have the agreement of the rest of the staff.

'But now I believe it is time for me to leave on my break.'

As he finished speaking, a large, black owl entered the Great Hall and headed directly towards him. Landing on the table in front of him, it held out one of its legs for him to remove the envelope which was attached to it.

Seeing the Gringotts seal on the letter, Dumbledore decided he should read the letter immediately, rather than put it off till later. He quickly opened and read it there at the table.

'Anything important Albus?' asked Minerva, having noticed the Gringotts seal on the envelope.

'No, no, my dear. Nothing too important.' Dumbledore quickly answered. 'Just a request for clarification on a minor matter. I will drop by Gringotts this morning and clear it up before I leave.'

* * *

Leaving the apparition point in Diagon Alley Dumbledore started making his way towards Gringotts, stopping every now and again to take a closer look at something in a shop window or to exchange pleasantries with someone.

He wasn't in a very good mood, but his long, flowing beard served well to conceal his annoyance at being summoned by a mere goblin. The fact that this particular goblin did in fact _have_ the authority to summon _him_, Albus Dumbledore, due to being the Potter Account Manager, only served to increase his irritation.

Perhaps it was time to remind this goblin of just who he was dealing with. A subtle reminder of the _difficulties_ he could create for the goblins in general might suffice. Along with making the point that would not be averse to making it known that those difficulties were due to his annoyance with a particular goblin.

Yes, he smirked as he started up the steps into the bank. That should be enough to bring this Ironfist to heal.

Entering the bank, he stepped up to an unoccupied teller.

'I have an appointment with Account Manager Ironfist.' he stated while keeping a genial expression on his face. 'Please advise him that I am here.'

* * *

He had to work hard to keep the sneer off his face as he followed the goblin down the hallway. Really, the goblins had fallen a long way. Wandless and having allowed their warrior heritage to fall by the wayside, they were going to be easy to deal with when the time came.

Why they ever allowed themselves to become businessmen and gave up their wand rights he just couldn't understand.

Still, it would make things easier in the long term for himself, so he wasn't going to complain.

Entering the office as he was announced, he plastered an insincere smile on his face.

'Account Manager Ironfist.' he said. 'It is a pleasure to see you.'

'As it is to see you Mr. Dumbledore.' Ironfist replied. 'Please be seated.

'Would you care for some refreshments before we begin.'

'No thank you,' Dumbledore answered. 'I am not long finished breakfast and I am anxious to be on my way for my annual break. If we could settle our business here quickly I would appreciate it.'

'Very well Mr. Dumbledore.' Ironfist began. 'As you are aware, I was appointed to take over the Potter Accounts in January when my predecessor Shatterstone died.

'Since then, I have been going over the Potter Accounts in order to familiarise myself with them.

'I have also conducted a full Audit of the Accounts during this time.'

I knew it, thought Dumbledore to himself. The little shit is looking for a bigger bribe.

He's known since our first conversation that I was playing around with the Account, so now he think he's found something that he can use to push for a bigger slice of the pie.

'As we are both aware, Mr. Dumbledore,' Ironfist continued. 'Since our first conversation, I have been receiving a modest sum in my account each month. With the implicit expectation that I would remain silent about the activity on the Potter Account.'

Dumbledore sat and said nothing, the smile on his face however was fading away and his anger began to get the better of him.

'Since then however,' Ironfist said. 'I have discovered that you have been removing sums of money from Mr. Potter's Trust Vault each month. And that you have also removed a number of items of value from his Vault.'

Yes, thought Dumbledore, he's definitely looking for a bigger bribe.

'I am sure we can come to some sort of an agreement over this.' Dumbledore began.

'I am not sure that we can Mr. Dumbledore.' Ironfist interrupted him.

'You may currently hold the position of Mr. Potter's Guardian. But Mr. Potter _is_ the Account Holder, and I do not believe he will be happy at discovering what has been happening with his Account.'

'And Mr. Potter will _not_ be discovering what has been happening.' Dumbledore broke in as his anger got the better of him and subtlety deserted him. 'After all, you wouldn't want your own activities to be uncovered. Or your own personal Account to be audited, now would you.

'Now, why don't you state what exactly you want. Or will I simply remove both the Dumbledore and Potter Accounts from Gringotts and allow the bank to fail as the rest of the Wizarding World follows suit.'

Ironfist started at him for a minute before giving a short barking laugh.

'Is that supposed to be a threat Mr. Dumbledore?' he asked. 'Because if it is, it is a singularly unimpressive one.

'You may of course, close your own personal Account here at Gringotts at any time you wish.

'You may not close someone else's Account for them however. Nor may you close a Family Account unless you are that Families Head of House.

'As you are not the Head of House for either the Dumbledore Family or the Potter Family, you do not have the authority to close either of those Accounts.

'And only Mr. Potter may close his personal Trust Vault, which he would be required to do in person, here at Gringotts, if he chose to do so.

'Your threat, therefore, is an empty one.'

Dumbledore forced himself to restrain his temper. It was obvious now, that this goblin knew far too much that could hurt him if it became public. He would never have spoken to him in this way if he didn't. He obviously thought he had him, Albus Dumbledore, on the rack and could gouge him for as much as he wanted.

But he'd been on the rack before and was an expert at twisting words to convince people to believe what he said and ignore the actual evidence. He just had to play along with this goblin for now and he could see about getting rid of him later.

'Very well,' Dumbledore said. 'I repeat, what _exactly_ do you want?'

'Your head on a pike at the entrance to the bank.' snarled Ironfist, suddenly looking every inch the warrior.

'Although I doubt that will happen.' He continued. 'I expect I shall have to be satisfied with your incarceration and service within the dragon pens.'

Dumbledore blinked at the sudden change in tone in the meeting as Ironfist reached out and touched an ornament on his desk.

Realisation came just as the door to the office opened and Ragnock himself entered along with a number of armed guards. The shock was compounded as he saw Amelia Bones and Remus Lupin enter the office behind the guards.

'What is the meaning of this?' he blustered as he rose to his feet and turned to face them.

Ragnock stepped forward.

'Albus Dumbledore, you are under arrest for breaking Goblin Law within Gringotts.

'You are charged with bribing a Goblin Account Manager, attempting to bribe a Goblin Account Manager, illegally removing items from a Vault which is not your own, illegally removing money from an Account which is not your own and tampering with official Gringotts mail. You are to be held and questioned by the Goblin Nation until such time as your trial takes place.'

Dumbledore paled even as his mind raced.

'You can't do this. I am the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW. You can't arrest me like this.'

He looked at Amelia, surely she wouldn't let this stand.

Amelia Bones stepped forward to stand beside Ragnock.

'Albus Dumbledore, you are under arrest for breaking Wizarding Law.

'You are charged with subverting the Will of an Ancient and Noble House, false imprisonment of the Heir of an Ancient and Noble House, conspiracy to commit child abuse and attempted Line Theft.'

As he heard the charges he almost collapsed. They knew! How did they find out? How was he going to get out of this? Wait! Amelia was charging him under Wizarding Law, that meant she would take him to the Ministry for questioning. That meant he could still talk his way out of this.

Then he heard her next words.

'As you are already in the custody of the Goblin Nation, you will remain in their custody while you are questioned and until such time as your trial.

'Do you have anything you wish to say at this time?'

Dumbledore stared at her while he thought quickly.

Ironfist and Ragnock, six armed guards plus Amelia and Remus. The goblins wouldn't be a problem he was sure. Amelia and Remus might put up a bit of a fight but he was confident he could overcome them. The problem was how many guards might be waiting outside the door. Given how this had been arranged he was almost certain there would be too many for even him to overcome.

He slowly straightened to his full height, his thoughts flying.

Once he got out of here, he would have to go to Privet Drive immediately and retrieve the boy before the goblins or the Ministry got to him. They had obviously only left him there to avoid raising his suspicions.

Then they would both have to go into hiding until the proper time came.

'I am afraid that I am going to have to spoil your delusions Amelia.' he said as he reached out along the link to Fawkes.

'I have no intention of spending time in prison. I could break out of course. But, quite frankly, it would be a waste of my time. Time that I could spend doing much more important things.'

'I guess that means that resisting arrest will be added to the charges then.' said Amelia with a smirk just as Fawkes flamed into view.

Dumbledore saw the smirk as he reached up and grasped Fawkes leg.

Wait? Why was she smirking when he was about to escape her. Then he felt the usual flare of heat of Phoenix travel but when it cleared he was still in the office.

'I guess that means that the Phoenix Wards are back up then.' remarked Remus.

The smirk on Ragnock's face was all the confirmation Dumbledore needed. Dam those goblins for inventing magic that Wizards didn't have.

Ok, he was going to have to do this the hard way then. He reached for his wand. Only to hesitate before his hand got halfway there as the point of a blade pressed against his spine. Before he could decide what to do, a second, then a third blade came to rest against his sides. Two more guards then stepped in front of him with the tip of their swords coming to rest against his chest.

Ragnock stepped around the guards, carefully not interfering with them and their swords. He reached into a pocket and removed Dumbledore's wand.

'I think that I'll just remove this temptation from you for now Dumbledore.

'I believe that it just remains for you to be handcuffed before you can be taken to the cells for processing.'

Dumbledore's heart sank as he spotted another goblin stepping forward with rune covered handcuffs in his hands and an ominous looking smile on its face.

* * *

'Well, that went better than I expected it to.' said Remus as he took a seat in Ragnock's office.

'Much better.' replied Ragnock. 'You are to be commended Ironfist. Your suggestion of allowing you to speak with him first, and for you to anger him before we made our entry proved to be appropriate.

'You had him sufficiently off balance that the arrest was made significantly easier.

'I shall arrange for a suitable bonus to made to you for the risk that you took in doing so.'

'Thank you my Chief.' replied Ironfist. 'It was my honour to serve.'

'Now,' Ragnock continued. 'We can begin to act slightly more openly.

'The guards at the Dursley house can be recalled and the boy placed in the hands of the appropriate muggle authorities.

'We can also track down where the mail redirection on Mr. Potter is taking his mail and take possession of any that remains there, before we remove the redirection and replace it with one which delivers his mail to Ironfist for sorting.

'We can also begin our investigation of the Chamber at Hogwarts.'

'And I'll be able to see about getting Sirius out of Azkaban and into a cell at the Ministry while I complete my investigation of how he ended up there.' added Amelia.

'But we have more important things to discuss right now.' she continued. 'How's Harry doing?'

Remus perked up at that.

'Quite well actually.' he said. 'He's not exactly comfortable right now I'm afraid. While the Healer's are happy with his progress in general, they've decided that three of his bones need to be vanished and re-grown. They've decided to do them individually and they vanished the first one this morning.'

'Ouch.' said Amelia. 'That's not a pleasant process. And I can say that from experience.'

'No, it's not.' replied Remus. 'But he's been through it before when that idiot Lockhart managed to vanish the bones in his arm after a Quidditch match. So at least he knows what he's facing.

'At least this time it's through choice. The Healer's told him he could leave things as they were, which would leave a weak point in his bones where they had been broken before. Or they could re-break the bones again and set them properly. Or they could vanish them and re-grow them fully.

'He chose the last option.'

'Good.' Amelia said. 'I'm sure the Healers were happy he took that option as well.

'Did you manage to have that discussion about his schoolwork with him?' she asked.

'I did.' Remus replied. 'And it was pretty much as we had expected.

'Held back at the Dursley's to try and keep out of trouble.

'Held back at Hogwarts partly out of habit and partly because he was afraid of losing his new friends.

'I think I managed to get through to him about doing his best, I'm certain that I've at least got him thinking about it. But it'll probably need a few more conversations to make sure.

'I told him how I got his Dad to put the effort in at school and it seemed to catch his interest.'

'Oh...' Amelia inquired with a raised eyebrow. Remus grinned back at her.

'I bet James, Sirius and Peter that I would beat them in each subject.' he said. 'And put down a galleon a subject on it.'

Amelia laughed.

'Good one. That pair would bet on whether the sun would come up in the morning, and whether it would rise in the east or the west for that matter. And of course, Peter wouldn't want to be left out of it either.'

'Exactly. Now, we'd have to modify the idea a bit for Harry to use it.' Remus said.

'The Granger girl, Hermione, I seem to recall that her parents are fairly affluent. Not in the Potter's league of course, but with both parents being Dentists they should have a reasonable income.' he glanced over at Ragnock, who just nodded without giving any specifics.

'I would assume that means that she could easily afford to make a bet with Harry along the same lines as I did with his Dad.

'And although I haven't met the girl myself, from what Harry has said about her I think she would take it as a challenge and wouldn't be upset with him if he did beat her in some of the subjects.'

'That's pretty much my impression of her as well.' said Amelia. 'She's been top of her year both years, but she hasn't been number one in every subject.

'Harry is top of the year in Defence, Neville Longbottom in Herbology and Draco Malfoy in Potions. Although I'm not certain that the Potions result can be trusted.'

'True.' said Remus. 'Given what Harry's said about Potions and Snape there's a pretty major bias going on there, although whether it's affecting the actual grades given I don't know.

'However, to get back on subject. While I don't see Hermione being an issue to convincing Harry to study properly, the Weasley boy, Ron, is another matter.

'Right now, Ron is probably one of the worst people Harry could be friends with.'

Amelia looked surprised and opened her mouth to speak. But Remus spoke before she could.

'Let me finish please Amelia.' he said.

'I know Arthur and Molly Weasley. Not particularly well I must admit. But I do know them. They are good people, hard workers, always willing to lend a hand to anyone who needs it.

'Ron on the other hand. Well, there's been a few flashes of the man Ron will grow into. The chess set when they went to confront Quirrell and when his sister was taken last month.

'But right now, from reading between the lines of what Harry has told me this last week, Ron is an immature, jealous, lazy prat.'

Amelia stared at him in amazement.

'I'm not trying to be cruel here Amelia.' Remus continued. 'I think Ron will likely grow up to be a decent man, but he's not done that yet.

'He's jealous of Harry's fame although he manages to keep it under control most of the time. He's jealous of Harry's money, even though he had a better idea of how wealthy Harry is than Harry did until he arrived here last week.

'He's also wants to be known as more than just the youngest Weasley boy, but isn't interested in putting in the effort to make that happen. Harry told me that Ron saw himself in that Mirror, standing on his own, Head Boy, Quidditch Captain, holding the Quidditch Trophy and House Cup, yet he makes no effort with his schoolwork which means he has no chance of being Head Boy, and didn't bother even putting his name down for the team Trials so has no chance of even getting on the team, never mind being Captain.'

'I see what you mean.' Amelia mused.

'The problem is that he's Weasley. He simply doesn't have the money to be able to make the same kind of bet with Harry that Hermione can. And you can be sure that the Weasley pride would stop him accepting anything that looks like charity which would give him the funds to enable it.'

'Yes, that could be a problem.' Amelia said.

'Actually,' Ragnock interjected. 'I may have a possible solution, at least in the short term.'

The others looked at him with the question open on their faces.

'As you may recall, the Weasley girl, Ginevra, requires treatment which Dumbledore failed to provide.

'On contacting her eldest brother, William, who is currently employed at our Egyptian branch, it was discovered that the entire family, minus the second oldest who is currently working in Romania, will be going to Egypt on holiday for several weeks.

'William will be raising the subject of Miss Weasley's treatment while they are there.

'I see no reason why the other brother's, who are all still attending Hogwarts, could not be given the opportunity to earn themselves some funds while they are there.

'This would have the added benefit of assuring the Weasley parents that their younger sons were being adequately supervised, while they themselves would be able to attend to their daughter.'

'That sounds like an excellent idea Ragnock.' Amelia said. 'And it deals with two separate issue's in a single move.

'Although I'm not sure that giving the Weasley twins access to funds is perhaps the best move we could make for the staff at Hogwarts, if even half the stories Susan has told me about them are true.

'You'll have to warn whoever is picked to supervise those two that they are probably the best pranksters Hogwarts has seen, with the possible exception of the Mauraders themselves.'

'I will be sure to pass that message on.' Ragnock said dryly.

'However, We all have business to getting on with. Is there anything we need to cover just now.'

'Actually Ragnock, there's a potential problem with Hogwarts that we haven't discussed as yet.' Remus said.

Ragnock, Amelia and Ironfist all looked at him, puzzled.

'I meant to mention it earlier, but we got side tracked when Amelia asked about Harry.

'It's been nagging at the back of my mind for the last few days, but didn't really get my attention until my talk with Harry yesterday about his schoolwork.'

The others continued to look at him.

'The other teachers I can understand I suppose. Not all of them have had much if any contact with Harry, but the four Heads of House? Each of them is responsible for the students in their House. They are expected to keep an eye on them and spot any trouble they are having or get into and help them out.

'The four of them also receive training before they take on the position, and refresher training every few years on how to spot and deal with child abuse.'

Sudden understanding was etched on the faces of the other three.

'Then there's Poppy Pomfrey. She's a trained Healer, specialising in children. Again, she is trained in how to spot and deal with child abuse. And it's not as if Harry hasn't spent time in her care. She has to have notice the old injuries and the malnutrition.

'So why hasn't one of them done something about Harry before now?

'I mean, if it was only one of them, I could understand that they simply didn't see the signs.

'But five of them?

'That suggests that they are either in on whatever it is Dumbledore is up to. Or he has some sort of control over what they see or do. Or both.'

'Damn.' was all Amelia had to say.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

Since the question was asked. There is no set schedule for updates. Chapters will be posted as and when they are ready.

**Chapter 9**

'I hadn't considered that.' said Amelia.

'If it is any consolation Amelia, neither had I.' Ragnock responded.

Both of them slumped back in their seats and looked over at Remus.

'You've had more time to think about this than we have Remus.' Amelia said. 'What have you come up with so far?'

'To be honest... Not a great deal.' Remus replied.

'I mean, obviously, the entire staff is going to have to be checked by the Healers and questioned into the bargain. Particularly the Heads of House and Poppy Pomfrey. And I think you're going to have to assume that at least some of them won't be back at Hogwarts in September.'

Amelia looked at him in surprise.

'Even if none of the staff are actively and willingly involved in whatever Dumbledore is up to, you know just how hard it can be to fix people who've been forced.' Remus continued.

'I think we have to assume that not all the staff will be ready to go back to work at the start of term.'

'Damn, that's going to complicate things. Finding competent, qualified people on such short notice won't be easy, especially since we won't know which positions need to be filled until after we manage to examine the current staff.' Amelia said. 'Not to mention we can't do anything openly until after we announce Dumbledore's arrest.'

'Well, the obvious place to start, is with the senior staff.' Ragnock stated. 'Once they, and Poppy Pomfrey, have been dealt with, the remaining staff can be looked at.

'But I doubt if Dumbledore would have done much, if anything, to the other staff members.'

'You might have a point there Ragnock.' said Remus. 'It's only really the Heads of House and Poppy who have any interaction with the students outside of classes. So he probably wouldn't have needed a specific reason to interfere with any of the rest of the staff.

'And as for Harry, the only member of the staff he's mentioned spending any time with is Hagrid. And well, you know what Hagrid is like.

'If it's not one of his creature's, he's pretty much oblivious.'

'Oh, yes... I remember Hagrid all right.' laughed Amelia. 'And you're right. He's pretty much clueless when it comes to anything other than his creatures.

'But speaking of Hagrid. With the evidence Harry can provide, I have a good reason to re-open his case and get his conviction for Myrtle's death quashed.

'Then he'll be able to get a new wand and finish his education if he wants to.'

'Good idea Amelia.' Remus smiled. 'I'm pretty sure he could get himself a Mastery in Care of Magical Creatures without any problem at all if he had a wand and some time to practice the spell's required.

'I mean, he can pretty much handle anything already. Give him a working wand and there wouldn't be anything out there he couldn't work with.'

'If you two are quite finished talking about Hagrid,' Ragnock interrupted them, 'we could perhaps get back on subject here.

'I believe that of the senior staff, there are three of immediate concern.

'Poppy Pomfrey should be investigated immediately. As a trained Healer, anything which may have caused her to break, or ignore, her oaths as a Healer is a clear and obvious danger to her health and wellbeing.

'Convincing her of the necessity of being examined may be problematic, but I will leave that in your capable hands Amelia.

'Severus Snape is also a concern. As a supposedly reformed Death Eater, most would assume that he would be careful about his public demeanour and conduct, in order to demonstrate that he truly is reformed. Instead, if the reports I have received about his conduct towards the students at Hogwarts are correct, he has continued to conduct himself as a Death Eater, albeit without the physical assaults.

'His behaviour, and the behaviour of the students of his house, appears, on the surface at least, as if he is attempting to guide his students towards being Death Eaters in the future.'

'You're right Ragnock, and it's something I've been trying to do something about for a few years now.' Amelia spoke up.

'The potions grades at Hogwarts have been slipping ever since he was given the job there. And the number of students carrying on to NEWT level potions has dropped considerably.

'If it doesn't change soon, there won't be enough Auror's or Healers, as it is, those who do want to join either profession need to go through a remedial course to get their Potions work up to standard. But every time I try to raise the subject with the Minister, the Board or Dumbledore, I get stonewalled.'

'Well, I'm sure that that particular situation will be resolved once Dumbledore's trial is concluded.' Ragnock replied.

'Given his performance in the classroom, I very much doubt that he will retain his position once Dumbledore is no longer able to insist on it. Even if his current behaviour is due to Dumbledore.'

'I doubt if he'll want to go back.' Remus said. 'I was surprised when I heard he had been given the position. He's never liked children, not even when he was a child himself.

'So I'm fairly sure he's only there because Dumbledore insisted. My guess, would be that given the choice, he'd be doing Potions Research full time.'

'True enough,' Amelia said. 'The man truly is gifted at Potions. Ok, I guess we'll most likely be looking for a new Potions Professor regardless of how he checks out.

'Now, I'm guessing that the third one you mentioned is Minerva McGonagall.'

'Correct.' replied Ragnock. 'For several reasons.

'The first is that as Harry's Head of House, she had more contact with him than the rest of the staff, and was therefore in a better position to have noticed the various problems.

'Next is the fact that she was close to both James and Lily, and would therefore have been more likely to pay additional attention to Harry than she would normally have done.

'Lastly, is that as Deputy Headmistress, she is in a position to have to noticed anything Dumbledore was doing within the school. The fact that she has not raised any complaints suggests that she either agrees with what he is doing, or is somehow under his control.'

'Good point Ragnock.' said Remus. 'All that business with Quirrell and Lockhart springs to mind. Plus the way Snape and the Slytherin students are allowed to behave. The McGonagall I remember from my school days would never have allowed that.'

'No she wouldn't.' Amelia agreed. 'Even during the war with Voldemort she didn't allow the students to behave the way they do now.

'Which makes me more and more of the opinion that Dumbledore is controlling her somehow.

'But what about the other two senior staff? Why aren't they of _immediate_ concern?'

'Well, firstly,' Ragnock replied. 'Pomona Sprout is currently in South America on holiday, and is not due back until the middle of August.'

'Ok, that means we can't do anything about her till then.' Amelia responded. 'And Filius?'

'Filius Flitwick is currently staying with kin on his father's side.' Ragnock said. 'Which means that I have already arranged for him to be examined, and I should have the results tomorrow.'

'Ok,' said Amelia. 'So what are we going to do about Minerva and Severus?'

'I would recommend that we leave Severus until Dumbledore's trial.' Ragnock stated.

'It is unlikely that he will return to Hogwarts anyway. So we can pick him up and examine him then.

'As for Minerva, I would recommend that we wait until we have the results of Filius's examination.

'Given that a senior member of staff is required to be at Hogwarts at all times, it would be difficult to remove her for long enough to properly examine her, never mind the time any treatment would require.

'If we wait until Filius is available to replace her at the school and then bring her in on some pretext it would ensure things proceed much more smoothly.'

'True enough Ragnock.' said Remus. 'Although I hope Filius is available sooner, rather than later. I hate the thought of her being controlled the way we think she is any longer than is absolutely necessary.

'And I really hope we can have her back to normal before the school year starts. Trying to replace Minerva at the school as well as Dumbledore would be almost impossible.

'As it is we're looking at having to get a new Transfiguration Professor, a new Head of Gryffindor and new Deputy Headmaster/mistress. Having to get a new Headmaster as well would be really difficult.'

Amelia and Ragnock just looked at him.

'Think about it.' Remus said. 'We need a new Headmaster. If her examination doesn't rule her out, then Minerva McGonagall is the obvious replacement. The Board will likely insist on her if she is cleared of any wrongdoing.

'Which means she needs a new Deputy and a new Head of Gryffindor. Plus as Headmistress she can't teach, so she needs a new Transfiguration Professor.

'And if her examination does rule her out. Then those positions need to be filled anyway.'

Amelia winced.

'I hadn't thought that far ahead.' she admitted. 'Ok, so we're looking at new Potions and Transfiguration Professors at the least. Filius or Pomona will likely get the Deputy position if they are cleared to go back.'

She looked across at Remus and smiled.

'Maybe she'll ask you to take on Gryffindor House Remus.' she said. 'You are going to be there next year as the Defence Professor and you were a Gryffindor after all.'

'Maybe.' said Remus. 'But I doubt it.

'There's the supposed curse on the Defence job after all.

'Which is actually something I've been meaning to ask you two about anyway.'

Amelia frowned and motioned him to continue.

'Ok, you both know that the position is supposed to be cursed.' Remus said. 'And that no-one has lasted for more than one year in the job for close on thirty years now.'

Both Ragnock and Amelia nodded.

'So why hasn't anything been done about it?' Remus asked. 'I mean, it's one of the core subjects, and one that's important for everyone to do well in.

'I would have thought that the Ministry would have done everything it could to get rid of it once it became obvious there was something wrong.'

'You know,' Amelia mused, a fresh frown on her face. 'That's a good question.

'I don't know if there was anything done before I became Head of the Department, but I don't recall any requests to do anything since I did.

'I'll need to look into it.'

'There have been no requests for a curse-breaking team from Gringotts to attend Hogwarts since 1834.' was all Ragnock said.

'I will however, add it to the list of specific items to be investigated when we visit to deal with the basilisk.'

'I would suggest, Remus, that you refrain from visiting the school until it has been cleared. As the next prospectus Defence Professor, it would be best if the curse, if it exists, is removed before you allow it the chance to affect you.'

Remus nodded his agreement.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

Since the question was asked. There is no set schedule for updates. Chapters will be posted as and when they are ready.

**Chapter 10**

Hermione Granger was confused. No, she was annoyed. No, she was angry. No, she was worried. Oh... honestly! She really didn't know what she was right now, but she was definitely confused regardless of anything else she might be.

She looked back down at the letter that had her so confused.

_Hermione,_

_How's your holiday so far? Got all your homework done yet?_

_I'm not done with mine yet, there's a surprise. But I have started it, I promise._

_Things are Ok here. Better than last summer at least. I'm getting enough to eat, and at least some time to work on my homework each day, so it could be worse._

_Anyway, I know you said you were going to France on holiday next week, so I'll write again when you get back. Maybe by that time I'll have my homework done._

_Hopefully we'll be able to meet up sometime before school starts back._

_Harry_

_PS – I asked Hedwig to wait for a reply. Could you remind me again when you're expecting to be back from France, so I know when to write to you again._

There was something about it that just didn't seem right to her.

Oh, it was Harry's handwriting all right, she knew his handwriting well enough to be sure about that. And it had been brought here by Hedwig, so the idea of it being a forgery was patently ludicrous. But still, there was just something about it that just seemed, off, to her. But what it was she just couldn't place.

Just then she heard her Mum calling her down for lunch, so she sat the letter down on her desk and made her way downstairs.

Lunch was a fairly standard affair of sandwiches and a drink and talking with her parents. She wasn't expecting it though when her Dad spoke up.

'What's bothering you Hermione?' he asked.

Hermione looked at him, surprised.

'You've got that look on your face.' he said. 'Exactly the same as your mother gets when something is bugging her and she can't quite put her finger on what it is.

'So... what's bothering you?'

Hermione looked at him for a few seconds before realising that he wasn't going to let it drop.

'I got a letter from Harry.' she said.

'Harry? As in the Harry you've talked about from school?' her Dad asked as her Mum sat back, content, for now, to let her husband do the talking.

'Yes,' Hermione replied. 'That Harry.'

'So what's got you so bothered about a letter from him?' her Dad asked. 'Or is he asking you to do something you know you shouldn't.'

'No!' Hermione exclaimed. 'Nothing like that Dad.

'It just seems... off, somehow.' she continued.

'I mean, it's his handwriting, and I know Hedwig wouldn't have brought it if someone else had written it or given it to her. But there's just something about it that doesn't seem like Harry.'

Suddenly it hit her and with a gasped 'Of course!', she made a dash for her room.

She was sitting on her bed, looking through a small pile of parchment when her parents caught up with her.

'I know what the problem is.' she said in response to their look.

'Do you want to talk about it?' her Mum asked.

'I...' she looked up at them. 'I think I need to.'

Her parents glanced at each other before making their way into the bedroom and sitting down on either side of her.

Hermione glanced at both of them, biting her lip, not sure of where to start.

'Why don't you start at the beginning?' her mum suggested softly. 'It'll be less confusing that way.'

'Ok.' Hermione took a deep breath. 'I haven't been completely honest with you about everything that's happened at school over the last two years.'

She paused and looked at her parents in concern but got understanding looks in response.

Encouraged, she continued.

'Halloween in first year. Well, it wasn't a wild animal that had gotten into the school.

'It was a troll.' she paused.

'And what, exactly, is a troll.' her Dad asked.

'Twelve foot of muscled bad attitude, carrying a club.' Hermione answered.

Her Dad's face went very still.

'And two eleven year old boys managed to chase it off?' he asked, the disbelief evident in his voice.

'Well...' Hermione said. 'Actually, Harry jumped on its back to stop it attacking me, and then Ron managed to levitate its club and then drop it on its head, knocking it out.'

Her parents paled.

'Anyway.' Hermione continued before they could say anything else.

'After that, Harry and Ron became my friends, and we found out that the Headmaster had hidden something very valuable in the school to stop it from being stolen.

'Only, we suspected one of the professor's was trying to do just that.

'At the end of the year, the Headmaster was away from the school and we thought that the professor was going to make his attempt. So Harry, Ron and I went to try and stop him.'

'And why didn't you go to one of the other professors?' her Mum asked. 'Or your Head of House? Surely they would have been better able to stop him than three first year students.'

'We tried Mum.' Hermione said. 'Honestly, we did. We went to Professor McGonagall, but she just brushed us off and didn't do anything.

'So we went ourselves.

'Ron got hurt at the fourth obstacle and we had to leave him behind.

'The sixth obstacle was a logic puzzle, which I solved, but only one of us could go on from there. So Harry went on and I went back to get Ron.

'Harry stopped the professor from stealing the stone, but he was hurt in the process and had to spend three days in the hospital wing.'

'Ok.' her Dad said. 'I think we're going to want to go over things in more detail later. But for now, why don't you carry on with last year?'

'Last year,' Hermione started. 'Began with a house-elf stopping Harry getting any mail and trying to stop him from going back to Hogwarts.

'It claimed it wasn't safe for him to go back. That something really bad was going to happen.

'Harry, of course, refused to believe it.

'Anyway, at Halloween the caretaker's cat was petrified and a message claiming the Chamber of Secrets had been opened was left on the wall.

'Over the next several months a number of students were also petrified and no-one seemed to know who was doing it.

'Eventually, I worked out that it had to be a basilisk that was petrifying people, and that it was using the pipes to move around the school. Unfortunately, I was petrified before I could tell anyone.'

'So that would be the period when we didn't get any letters from you.' stated her Mum.

Hermione nodded.

'Harry eventually found the scrap of paper I had in my hand about what I had worked out. He realised where the entrance to the Chamber had to be and he and Ron went to go and tell Professor McGonagall.

'But before they could, they discovered that Ron's sister had disappeared and another message left saying that her bones would lie in the chamber forever.

'So they went to get the Defence Professor and made their way to the chamber.

'There was an accident on the way there and Harry was left to go on, on his own. He ended up killing the basilisk and saving Ginny.'

'Ok.' her Dad said. 'Again, we'll want to talk about this in more detail later. But for now, what's a basilisk?'

'A large snake which is highly venomous and if you look at its eye's, you die.' Hermione replied.

'I see...' her Mum said. 'And just how big was this basilisk?'

'I'm not sure. Harry guessed it was maybe fifty or sixty feet.' Hermione responded quietly.

Her Dad closed his eyes and shuddered.

'I think we're going to be having a long talk about whether you go back to Hogwarts or not love.' he finally said.

'I know,' he said, holding up his hand to stop Hermione from interrupting. 'You need to be trained to at least your OWL's. And yes, Professor McGonagall did tell us what would happen if you don't attend a magical school.

'However, Hogwarts isn't the only school. There's one in France that we know of, and I'm sure there are others as well.

'But it's something we'll need to talk about Hermione. Because without some kind of guarantee, there's no way that I want you going back to a school which has been so dangerous for the last two years.'

'While I agree with your Dad, this conversation started due to a letter from Harry.' Her Mum started. 'So why should a letter from him get you so worked up that you decided you had to tell us all this?'

Hermione sighed and handed the letter to her Mum.

'I worked out what's wrong with it.'

'I'm not seeing anything wrong with this Hermione.' said her Mum after reading it through.

Hermione handed her the small pile of parchment from her lap.

'These are the letter's I got from Harry last summer.

'Last year's letter are his normal messy scrawl. This one looks more like one of his homework assignments. All tidied up and without the spelling mistakes.'

Hermione paused before continuing.

'Almost as if someone was telling him what to write.'

'Perhaps his Aunt or Uncle was helping him.' pointed out her Dad.

'Dictate to him what to write, maybe.' Hermione replied. '_Help_ him in any way. I doubt it.' she almost snarled the word _help_.

Her Mum looked startled.

'And just why would you say that Hermione?' she asked.

Hermione bit her lip and looked at the floor before looking up at her Mum.

'Because I'm almost certain that they're abusing him.'


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

Since the question was asked. There is no set schedule for updates. Chapters will be posted as and when they are ready.

**Chapter 11**

Amelia Bones walked into Ragnock's private quarters with a face like thunder. Ragnock took one look at her and immediately made his way to his drinks cabinet and poured her a glass of firewhiskey.

Once she had emptied the glass, and the steam had died down, he ventured to ask what had her so upset.

'Sirius bloody Black!' she almost shouted as she paced the room.

'I finished checking the Chief Warlocks sealed files this afternoon.

'We were right, he didn't get a trial. Just picked up off the street, an overnight in a Ministry cell without being questioned and then straight to Azkaban. The order was signed by Dumbledore and Crouch.'

Ragnock sat himself back down and watched her pace.

'That doesn't explain your anger though Amelia.' he said. 'It is what we expected after all.'

'I know.' exclaimed Amelia. 'But since I now have proof that procedure wasn't followed, and that he's been in there for nearly thirteen years without a trial, I sent a couple of Auror's to bring him back to the Ministry for questioning.'

Ragnock sat and said nothing.

'His bloody cell was empty!' she finally said. 'Empty! Just when we're finally able to get him out of there and get him a trial. The bloody great big prat goes and escapes!'

'Ah. That is going to complicate things.' said Ragnock.

'Damn right it's going to complicate things.' Amelia replied. 'The Minister's already signed a Kiss on sight warrant for him and turned the Dementors loose to hunt for him. Refused to even listen to me about how dangerous it is for everyone to have those things wondering around freely.

'Trying to get our hands on him without getting him killed in the process is going to be a nightmare.

At that moment there was a knock on the door and Ragnock's Chief of Security walked in.

* * *

Hermione Granger was rapidly heading past the point of just being simply worried.

After explaining to her parents why she thought Harry was being abused. With things like how small he was in comparison to the other boys his age, how he tended to flinch if someone touched him, how he reacted when she hugged him and the little odds and ends of the very few things he had mentioned about his home life, lie being locked in his room and the bars on his windows last summer, she had thought they would do something immediately.

Instead they had questioned her for more details, before finally agreeing to take her to pay Harry a visit the next day after they finished work, which was today.

When she had asked them why they couldn't do something right away, they had explained to her that accusing someone of abuse is a really serious thing. And that while as Health Care professionals they were required to report any cases of abuse they suspected. They had to be certain, and her account of Harry wouldn't be enough to convince anyone who didn't know her.

They needed more than the suspicion of another child. Either some sort of proof, or the personal observations of someone who had had training in how to spot the signs of child abuse.

So, they had explained, they would pay Harry a visit, and if, after seeing and talking to him they agreed with her views, they would contact the appropriate authorities.

Which was why they had been here for the last ten minutes. Outside the house in Privet Drive where Harry lived with his Aunt, his Uncle and his cousin.

Only there didn't appear to be anyone home as no-one was answering the doorbell. She had even tried shouting Harry's name, but there hadn't been any reply.

'Honey.' her Mum said to her. 'We're wasting our time here. There's obviously no-one in.'

'But Mum.' Hermione exclaimed. '_They _never take him anywhere with them. Not to go shopping, not for a day out. Not even when they go on holiday.

'Besides,' she continued. 'If they are away out, why is their car still in the driveway?'

'A very good point Miss Granger.' A voice said from behind them.

They spun round to look at the man who had appeared from the side of the house.

'A mistake we shall have to rectify, now that you have pointed it out to us.' the man continued.

* * *

Harry was sitting reading when he heard a knock on the door.

'Come in.' he called out as he got to his feet.

Remus wasn't due by for another hour or so, and he wasn't expecting anyone else to pay him a visit this evening, so he wasn't sure who this might be.

The door opened, and with a cry of 'Harry!' A bushy haired missile slammed into his chest, knocking him back down into his seat.

'Hermione?' he exclaimed. 'What are you doing here?'

Hearing a cough, Harry looked over Hermione's shoulder and saw that Amelia and Remus were standing in the room, along with Hermione's parents.

'Ah, Hermione?' he started. 'Could you let me up?'

Hermione immediate jumped to her feet, blushing furiously at having acted like that in front of her parents, not to mention Mr. Lupin and Madame Bones.

Getting to his feet, Harry invited the four adults to take the seats around the fireplace while he dragged two of the chairs from the dining table over for Hermione and himself. Once everyone was settled, Harry decided to start.

'Well, not that I'm not happy to see you,' he said. 'But why are you here?'

'I was worried about you.' said Hermione. 'I got your letter, but there was something wrong about it.

'It bugged me for ages until I worked it out.'

Harry grinned at her, knowing full well how Hermione acted when she had something to work out. Then he frowned.

'What about my letter?' he asked. 'I didn't say anything in it that should have worried you.'

He glanced across at Remus.

'I'm sure I didn't.'

Remus nodded back at him.

'No you didn't Harry. Not that I could see anyway.' he said. 'I'm as curious as you are about what worried Hermione here about it.' he added.

Hermione bit her lip as she looked at them.

'Well, it wasn't anything that you said per se.' she said. 'It was more the way that you said it. It wasn't at all like the letters you sent me last summer. It was much more like the homework you hand in at school.

'I thought that someone was telling you what to write.'

Suddenly her face brightened and she looked at Remus.

'I was right, wasn't I?' she said. 'You helped Harry write the letter, didn't you Mr. Lupin?'

Remus smiled at her before looking across at Harry.

'I guess you were right about Hermione, Harry.' he said. 'She's definitely a smart one.'

He looked back to Hermione before continuing.

'You're right Hermione. I did help Harry with his letters.'

He held up a hand to stop her interrupting.

'I didn't dictate them, or tell him what to say. I just helped him avoid saying things we didn't want getting out just yet.'

'But...' Hermione started to say, her curiosity evident on her face.

'We had, and still have our reasons for what we are doing Miss Granger.' said Amelia. 'But why don't you and Harry go over to Harry's desk for now. The two of you can talk over there and Harry can tell you all about everything that has been happening while Remus and I talk to your parents.'

Hermione glanced at Harry, then the adults, before making her mind up.

'Come on Harry.' she said as she got to her feet. 'You can tell me all about it, and then we can go over the homework you said you've got done so far.'

The four adults watched as the two children made their way over to the desk on the other side of the room.

Amelia suddenly smiled at the Grangers.

'A smart one is right Remus.' she murmured. 'It must have taken her all of about two seconds to work out that we wanted to talk to her parents about things that we weren't going to say in front of them.'

Taking out her wand, she discretely gave it a few flicks before putting it away.

Seeing the Grangers questioning look, she explained.

'A minor privacy ward. This way we can talk without the children overhearing.'

'That sounds like a very handy thing to be able to do.' Said Mrs. Granger.

'Oh, you have no idea.' Amelia replied. 'It's probably one of the most commonly used pieces of magic around.

'Being able to have a private conversation with someone without needing to find an empty room, or speaking in whispers, just makes life so much easier.'

All four of them laughed knowingly.

'Anyway.' Remus began. 'As your daughter so quickly worked out. We do have some things to discuss with you.'

The Grangers glanced at each other before nodding.

'I believe we do.' Mr. Granger said.

'Yes we do.' Mrs. Granger interjected. 'But, while we're pleased to have found Harry looking so happy. We are a bit surprised that we haven't seen or heard anything about his aunt or uncle so far.'

She looked questioningly at Amelia and Remus.

'Hmm.' said Remus. 'We'll get to them in a minute. I'm curious about why you agreed to bring Hermione to visit Harry? And how she managed to convince the two of you to take her?

'Surely it doesn't take both of you to take her to visit a school friend?'

Mrs. Granger looked across at her husband.

'No, it doesn't.' she said finally. Making up her mind, she continued.

'Hermione finally confided that she thinks Harry is being abused at home.' she said. 'We agreed to pay a visit and investigate before making a decision on whether to make a report to the police or not.'

She looked across at Amelia and Remus and was surprised to see a smile on their faces.

'I'm pleased to hear that your daughter trusted you enough to speak to you about it.' explained Amelia. 'And that you believed her enough to do something.

'Harry's had far too few adults in his life who are willing to help him so far.'

'I'm afraid that Hermione was right.' Remus continued. 'He was being abused by his aunt and uncle. Both physical and emotionally abused, although thankfully there was no sexual side to it.

'And although it's been going on far too long. It's thankfully been caught while we can still treat the effects. He should be able to make a full recovery.'

The Grangers slumped, both in shock that Hermione had indeed been right, and relief that the situation was already being dealt with.

'And his aunt and uncle?' Mr. Granger asked.

'In custody.' replied Amelia. 'Where they will remain until their trial.'

'Good.' Mrs. Granger almost snarled.

'So how come Harry is here and not at say, St. Mongo's, or with Children's Services?' asked Mr. Granger.

'Well, that's where things become a bit more complicated.' replied Remus.

'To begin with, there isn't anything like Children's Services in the Wizarding World. We don't have any Orphanages, orphans are taken in by family or friends of the family. And child abuse is very rare in our world.

It does happen, but not very often and it's normally dealt with by the extended family without the authorities getting involved.'

Seeing the Grangers were about to say something, Amelia spoke up.

'Our birth rate is much lower than it is amongst non-magical people. Which means the vast majority of our world look on our children as being rare and precious beings, to be protected at all costs while they are young.

'I'm ashamed to admit that we didn't know that Harry was being abused until after he was given a full medical exam by the goblins last Monday.'

The Grangers looked surprised.

'Hermione probably isn't aware as yet, since Harry hadn't been told.' Remus continued.

'But Harry isn't just the Boy-Who-Lived. He's also the Heir to one of the oldest Families in the Wizarding world, and the Heir to a rather sizable fortune.

'Gringotts became concerned about some financial irregularities and other unusual things that were happening regarding Harry and started an investigation before calling Amelia and myself in a couple of weeks ago.

'The investigation turned up a number of other disturbing things and it was decided that we need to speak to Harry personally before anything further was done.'


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

Thanks to my beta _Alex Lilly Potter_.

**Chapter 12**

Harry made his way over to his desk, chuckling under his breath as Hermione veered off to look at the books in the bookcase, knowing full well that the interrogation was only being delayed by a few minutes.

'Are these all yours Harry?' Hermione asked after a moment.

'Just the ones on the top shelf.' Harry replied. 'Remus supplied the rest. I'm not actually sure if they are his, or if he borrowed them from someone else. I didn't ask.'

'Oh.' Hermione said. 'I've not read all of these. In fact, there's a few here that I've not heard of before.

'He must be very well read to have been able to supply you with these.'

'Well he is tutoring me this summer, in all subjects.' Harry replied. He continued on when Hermione looked over at him and raised her eyebrows.

'We had a, _chat_, a few days ago about my grades and things.

' started going over all the first and second year stuff, making sure I understand it all properly. He's also got me practicing with a quill to improve my handwriting.

'He wasn't pleased when he saw the letters I wrote for you and Ron.

'Called my handwriting a disgrace and that both my Mum and Dad would have been horrified with it.'

'That's great Harry.' Hermione gushed. 'When we were introduced to him when we arrived, he just said that he was an old friend of your parents and that he was helping you this summer.'

Harry grimaced and she made her way over to the desk and sat down next to him.

'Harry, I think it's great that someone is taking the time to help you.' Hermione said.

'And we both know that you could be doing much better at school than you are.'

Harry looked at her in surprise.

'I do have eyes Harry.' she said. 'You couldn't do as well as you do on the practical stuff, if you didn't understand the theory.

'Which means that you're either struggling on how to put that knowledge down on paper, or you're deliberately holding back in class and the exams.'

Harry's eyes widened.

'Knowing you.' she continued. 'It's probably a bit of both. I doubt if anyone's ever taught you how to properly write an essay. And you're worried about how Ron would react to you spending time studying and doing well in class.'

'How?' Harry was too shocked to be able to say any more. But Hermione understood what he meant.

'I might not have really thought about it at school Harry, but that doesn't mean I didn't see what you were doing. I just didn't pay it as much attention as I should have. Too busy with other things I guess.

'But once I was back home, I was worried about you.

'I was trying to think about how I could get my parents to help you, or even just let me pay you a visit. So I was thinking over everything you had said about your relatives and your home life, and how you behaved around people and started putting things together.'

Hermione looked at him with something in her eyes he didn't recognise.

'Harry, aren't you wondering why both my parents are here with me?' she asked.

Harry just stared at her, confused at what seemed like a sudden change in topic.

'I was worried about you Harry. And when I got your letter and thought that it had been dictated to you, I was even more worried.' Hermione paused and took a deep breath.

'I told my parents that I thought you were being abused.' she said in a rush. 'And convinced them to visit you to see if they agreed.'

Harry just sat there, speechless.

'If they agreed with me, we were going to take you home with us and contact the police.' she finished up.

Harry stared at her as what she had said slowly percolated its way through his mind.

Hermione was trying to help him he realised. She had worked out something was wrong and had decided to do something about it. For the first time in his life that he could remember, someone had decided he was worth helping simply because they knew him and thought what was happening to him was wrong.

Oh, Ragnock, Amelia and Remus were helping him now. He was well aware of that, and was very grateful for everything they had and were doing for him.

But they were helping him because laws had been broken or because they had been friends with his parents. There were politics, money and old grudges involved in their reasons for helping him. Even if they did appear to like him and think him worth helping now that they had met him.

But Hermione was doing this simply because she was his friend. She didn't care about his status in the wizarding world, not since the troll in first year, and she didn't know about the money he had. To her, he was just Harry, her friend.

Tears started to form in his eyes as he looked at her. And then she was sitting on his lap with her arms around him as he cried.

* * *

Ten minutes later, with his emotions back under control and the two of them back in their own seats again, Harry decided to get it over with and tell Hermione everything that had happened.

'It all really started when we got to the car.' he began.

'A man called Scribeshank, who was really a goblin under a glamour charm, met us and said that I had a meeting at Gringotts about my inheritance.

'The next thing I knew, my aunt and uncle had been led away and Scribeshank took me to a warehouse somewhere where he did something he said was checking for tracking charms.'

'Oh yes,' Hermione interrupted him. 'They did that with us as well, before they brought us here.'

'Well,' Harry continued with a mock glare. 'After that, we portkeyed into a room here in Gringotts and I was taken to the Healers Ward they have in the bank for a check-up.

'Once that was done, they gave me some dinner and then took me to a meeting with Ragnock, Amelia and Remus.'

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Harry gave a shake of his head and continued, wanting to get this bit out before she interrupted.

'Once there, I found out that the Headmaster had had my parents Will sealed, and blocked it from executed. I also found out that the Potters are one of the oldest Families in Britain and my parents wanted me to take up the position of Head of the Family by my fourteenth birthday if anything happened to them.

'My godfather has been illegally imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. And it was specifically stated in the Will that I was never to go to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. I was to go to an orphanage rather than them.'

Hermione was visibly shocked at what he was saying.

'But... The Headmaster...' she started.

'Has been stealing from me for years.' Harry interrupted her. 'Heirlooms that have been in my family for generations, money from my vault.

'He's not on the list my parents provided as a potential guardian for me, but he stood in front of the Wizengamot and claimed they wanted him to look after me.

'He's hidden me from the magical world, but he's also hidden the magical world from me Hermione. Even though he was never supposed to be my guardian, by claiming that status, he was legally required to ensure that I, as the Heir to the House of Potter, was taught what that meant and everything I would need to know in order to take my place as the Head of House Potter on my next birthday.

'He's not only not done that. As best as we can tell he appears to have gone out of his way to make sure I didn't have the opportunity to learn it on my own.'

'But...' Hermione started. 'How?'

'The Healers found a few compulsion charms on me.' Harry explained. 'One was to make me more impulsive. I'm not really naturally inclined to go running into danger for someone I don't really know. Jumping that troll, or going after the basilisk just isn't me. Not after the way I was brought up. I might do it for someone I knew and liked, but not someone I didn't know.'

Hermione thought about that for a few seconds before nodding to him to continue.

'Another one stopped me investigating my family.' he said. 'Before I got to Hogwarts I was really keen on looking up my family and asking the teachers for anything they could tell me about my Mum and Dad.

'But once I got to school I didn't do anything about it. They think it was supposed to make me less curious about my family and the details of the wizarding world in general.

'But Remus reckons it had a knock on effect on my studying as well, 'cause before I arrived at Hogwarts I was almost as eager as you were to learn everything I possibly could about magic.'

'That makes sense actually.' Hermione said. 'It would be really difficult to make a spell that reduces your curiosity about one thing not bleed over into affecting others.' She bit her lip.

'Are you really sure it was the Headmaster Harry?' she asked. 'I mean... he's the Headmaster. And he always seemed to really care about you.'

'It was his magical signature Hermione.' Harry said gently.

'And he knew exactly how my aunt and uncle were treating me all these years.'

Harry saw the questioning look in her eyes.

'He had a Health Monitoring Charm on me as well. It was developed about eight hundred years ago to keep an eye on the muggleborn children after they had been identified and before they started Hogwarts, and when they went back to their families for the holidays. So that steps could be taken and the child removed from the family if they were abused.

'This was back when the muggles were still really superstitious and often reacted badly to magic. It fell out of use about a hundred years ago.

'He knew every time I was beaten up Hermione, or one of my bones was broken, or when my uncle whipped me with his belt till my back was raw.'

There were tears in Hermione's eyes now.

'And my aunt and uncle confessed that he met with them every six months before I started Hogwarts and at the end of the summer holidays last year and reported to him about everything they had done to me and how they had treated me.

'He knew what they were doing Hermione. He knew about it and encouraged them.'

They were both crying this time when Hermione once again landed on his lap.

* * *

It was beginning to get late now and both Harry and Hermione were becoming aware that Hermione would have to leave soon.

They had talked more about everything that Harry knew Dumbledore had done regarding him, and also the things he knew that Ragnock, Amelia and Remus had done for him so far.

Now they had moved on to what the Healers were doing.

'So, you've been on various nutrient and healing potions for the last week and a half and they vanished one of your bones and re-grew it on Monday, and plan on doing the same tomorrow.' Hermione stated.

'Yeah,' Harry replied. 'It was originally planned for today, but the Healers didn't like my reaction to the Skele-grow on Monday, so they've arranged for a new batch, specially brewed for me, which will be ready for tomorrow.'

'But, why vanish the bones? I thought Skele-grow was supposed to fix broken bones.' Hermione asked, confused.

'It's because they weren't set right after they were broken.' Harry explained. 'They gave me the option of doing it this way, or having the bones re-broken and properly set before taking the Skele-grow.'

'Oh, that makes sense then.' Hermione replied. 'I think I'd take having them vanished as well. I don't think I'd fancy deliberately having bones broken.'

'Anyway, the last of the bones gets vanished and re-grown on Saturday. They give me a day off between. And then we start on removing the bindings on my magic on Monday.' he grinned.

'We're hoping to have all four done over the next week and a half, but there's plenty of leeway in the schedule 'cause they want to be sure I'm recovered fully between each go.

'After that, I have about a week for let my magic settle down and then we do the ritual to remove the soul fragment.'

Telling Hermione about the soul fragment had been hard. Even harder than what Dumbledore had done, and harder than talking about what his aunt and uncle had done to him. But once he'd started it had all come pouring out. Hermione had been horrified, and then promptly promised to anything she could to help.

When he assured her that the best experts Gringotts had were working on it, she had made him promise to let her know when it was scheduled for. And to try and arrange for her to there when it was done so she could be with him afterwards.

She had initially tried to talk him into letting her convince her parents to let her stay here with him while they went on holiday to France, but he had refused. Telling her that he wasn't about to have her lose out on her time with her parents.

'Then,' he continued on. 'Once the Healers clear me, Remus is going to start going over all the first and second year spellwork. And help me get used to the extra magic I'll have access to and learn to control it.

'He thinks I'll find the spell casting much easier once the bindings and soul fragment are gone, but I'll need to work on not pushing my magic as much to make it work. Otherwise I could end up doing some damage to something or even hurt someone without meaning to.'

Just then they heard noticed the adults starting to get to their feet.

'Oh, it must be time for us to head home.' Hermione said. An intense look came over her face then.

'Harry?' she asked. 'What do you think about me coming back tomorrow and spending the day with you?'

Harry paused and thought about it briefly.

'If you want.' he replied. 'But I'll just be lying around in bed most of the day. It'll be pretty boring for you.'

'And what do you think I'll be home?' Hermione asked. 'My parents will be at work all day, and I'll just be sitting around reading.

'If I come here, I can keep you company, and you've got all those books on your bookshelf that I can read.'

'Ah, that's it.' Harry laughed. 'I should have known. You just want access to my books!'

'Prat!' laughed Hermione. 'So... What do you say?'

'You'll need to check with Amelia and Remus, but it's ok by me.' he replied and watched as Hermione crossed over to her parents and spoke quietly to them, before turning to Amelia and Remus.

A few words were obviously exchanged before Hermione turned to face him, a huge smile on her face and nodded excitedly.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

Thanks to my beta _Alex Lilly Potter_.

**Chapter 13**

Minerva McGonagall allowed herself to feel marginally concerned as she followed her escort through the corridors of Gringotts.

Years of teaching, and having to deal with the wide variety of things her students could come up with, had helped to keep her more adaptable to the unexpected than the average witch her age, but she still preferred to have a bit more warning about changes to her routine than she had had for this.

Having Filius turn up at breakfast, when he wasn't due back from his holiday till the end of next week, and inform her that he had been asked to pass on the message that Ragnock, of all goblins, wished to meet with her this morning, was rather more of a surprise than she was used to handling during the school holidays.

Add the fact, that she had no idea what this meeting involved, other than it wasn't to do with the school, and it had her feeling ever so slightly off balance.

Still, she squared her shoulders as the door to the office was held open for her. Appearing indecisive or uncertain only made you look weak to the goblins, which was never a good idea. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the office hoping this wasn't going to be bad news.

Ragnock was seated behind his desk as she walked in, and much to her surprise she saw Amelia Bones in the office as well.

'_Just what is going on here that could involve these two?_' she thought to herself.

'Good morning Professor McGonagall.' said Ragnock. 'Thanks you for coming on such short notice.'

'I could hardly fail to attend a meeting with yourself, Ragnock.' she replied. 'After all, I hear that Minister Fudge is still trying to arrange a meeting with you.' she added with a glance at Amelia.

'And unless he manages to suggest a realistic reason for such a meeting, he is unlikely to be successful.' Ragnock responded. 'But, please, take a seat. We have much to discuss.'

As she was sitting down, a goblin entered from a side door and handed a piece of parchment to Ragnock before leaving. After a glance at it, he passed it over to Amelia to read.

'As I was saying, we have much to discuss.' Ragnock started. 'Madame Bones is present as much of it concerns her Department at the Ministry as well as Gringotts and the Goblin Nation.

'But first, I must apologise to you Professor.

'On your way to this office, you were passively scanned for a number of magic's.'

Minerva stiffened in her seat. Insulted at the implications in that statement.

'While I apologise for having had this done without your consent. It was considered necessary in order to confirm, or refute, our suspicions.

'The results of the scan are on the parchment that Madame Bones is currently holding.'

Amelia held out the parchment to her.

'I'm sorry Minerva.' she said. 'But you need to read this.'

Still shocked at the breach in etiquette, she took the parchment and looked down at it.

_Results of passive diagnostic scan on Minerva McGonagall (Witch)_

_Long-term Compulsion Charm – placed approx. 12 years ago_

_Long-term Compulsion Charm – placed approx. 12 years ago_

_Long-term Compulsion Charm – placed approx. 12 years ago_

_Long-term Compulsion Charm – placed approx. 2 years ago_

_Long-term Compulsion Charm – placed approx. 2 years ago_

_Long-term Compulsion Charm – placed approx. 2 years ago_

_Memory Charm – placed approx. 2 weeks ago_

_All Charms found carried the same Magical Signature, belonging to Albus Dumbledore._

_Additional Compulsion or Memory Charms may be present but are not able to be detected using the passive diagnostic scans used. Full details of the Charms found will require a more extensive, active diagnostic scan to be carried out._

_Medical confinement and treatment is recommended immediately._

She looked back across to Amelia, her face pale and her eyes wide.

'We can probably make a guess at what the Charms were for, based on what we found on Filius and Poppy when they were checked.' Amelia said.

'You've already checked Filius and Poppy?' Minerva asked weakly.

'Yes.' replied Amelia. 'We only found a couple of Compulsion Charms on Filius which were relatively simple to remove. And while he is not happy, he is handling the situation quite well.

'Poppy on the other hand...' Amelia paused before continuing. 'Poppy isn't doing too well I'm afraid Minerva.

'Between the Compulsion Charms and several Memory Charms, she came really close to breaking her Healer's Oaths, and she's taken it pretty hard now that she's free of them.

'Right now, I'm not sure if she'll make it back to Hogwarts.'

'But surely there must be some sort of mistake.' Minerva gasped out. 'Albus... Albus wouldn't do something like this.'

'I am afraid there is no mistake.' Ragnock spoke up.

'Dumbledore most certainly did do this. This and much more besides.'

* * *

She sat in the chair beside the fireplace in the small suite of rooms Ragnock had arranged for her here within Gringotts.

She really hadn't wanted to believe that Albus had done the things she now knew he had. Not even with it being Amelia Bones and Ragnock telling her about them.

But now, with half of the compulsions removed, she could feel the difference within her own mind, in the way that she thought, and she knew they had been telling her the truth.

An even dozen Compulsion Charms, covering everything from not arguing about young Harry Potter being left on a doorstep in the middle of the night, through to not objecting to Severus Snape's behaviour as a teacher and Head of Slytherin House, to not noticing that young Harry was far too small for his age and other than his school uniform, was dressed in not much better than rags.

She was now both dreading finding out what the Memory Charms were hiding, while at the same time looking forward to having them removed.

So she was sitting here now, waiting for the Healer to come and let her know that she could go and visit Poppy, while she practiced the basic Occlumency that she was capable of, looking for the smallest of hints that a memory had been tampered with. Any that she could spot for herself would make it easier for the Healers to remove the overlaid memory and allow the suppressed one to be viewed. She had already found three possibilities for the Mind Healer to check, all within the last two years.

Of course, the fact that they had Albus available to question about when and what memories he had Obliviated was going to make things a lot easier. And would also mean they could be sure of getting all of the replaced memories and wouldn't be left wondering if they had missed any. But it would still be a time consuming task. Poor Poppy had had almost a dozen memories replaced. She could only hope that she hadn't had that much damage done to herself.

Hearing a knock at the door, she got to her feet. That should be the Healer, come to escort her to Poppy, to see if talking with her old friend and colleague could help her find some solace and begin the healing process.

* * *

Walking into the Healers Ward here in Gringotts felt strange. It was both similar and very different to the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts.

Hogwarts Ward was a simple long room, with beds down each side, a Potions cabinet against one wall and a door to Poppy's office.

This Ward, while still a long room with beds down each side, had multiple Potions cabinets spaced out along the walls, and a series of doors, once beside each cabinet. The biggest difference however, that it had a Healers Station against the far wall. From where a Healer sitting could see every bed in the room.

As she started to make her way towards the Station, she was looking at the only occupied bed in the ward. From this distance she didn't recognise who it was, although she was almost certain it was a child. The young woman sitting next to the bed reading, also appeared to be vaguely familiar.

As she got closer she finally recognised the pair of them. She had not seen Miss Granger _not_ wearing her school robes for almost two years now, and the difference was, dramatic.

And now, without the compulsions forcing her to see the Harry Potter that Albus had wanted her to see, she was finally looking at Harry Potter as he really was. And without his glasses the resemblance to James was greatly reduced, while the touch of Lily in his features was much easier to see.

Coming to a stop at the end of his bed she faced them and they looked up at her.

'Mr. Potter, Miss Granger.' she said. 'And just what have you done today that has you in a hospital bed Mr. Potter?'

'Professor McGonagall?' asked Harry, squinting at her. 'Sorry, need my glasses to see properly.'

Hermione quickly picked them up from the bedside table and handed them to him.

'Hello Professor.' Hermione said. 'Healer Rand told us you were here, and that we might see you today.'

'Well, while Madame Bones had mentioned that you were on the premises Mr. Potter, she did not say anything about you being in here today. Nor did she mention your presence Miss Granger.' Minerva stated.

'Oh.' Harry said, obviously realising he hadn't answered her initial question. 'I'm having my femur re-grown. And Hermione offered to keep me company.'

Seeing her questioning look, he continued.

'It got broken a few years ago and wasn't set properly before it healed. It wasn't hurting me or anything, but the Healers said it left a weak point in the bone, so they wanted to fix it.

'They did three of my ribs on Monday, and we'll do my Fibula on Saturday if everything goes alright today.'

Minerva sighed as she absorbed Harry's words.

'Would I be correct that these injuries occurred before you started at Hogwarts?' she asked.

Harry's eyes clouded over briefly and he looked away before answering.

'Mostly,' he said. 'A couple of the ribs were last summer.'

Minerva could feel the tears gathering behind her eyes.

'Mr. Potter,' she began then paused before continuing. 'Harry, I am so sorry.

'I should never have let Albus leave you with those people.

'I should have looked after you better when you came to school.'

Harry interrupted her.

'It's ok Professor.' he said. 'You didn't have any choice.'

The surprise must have been visible of her face.

'Ragnock, Amelia and Remus have been telling me what _Dumbledore_ has been doing to me, and to other people.' Harry said.

'And Healer Rand told us that you had a whole load of Compulsion and Memory Charms done to you. Same as Hermione and me had.'

'The two of you had those Charms on you?' Minerva asked.

'Yeah, although Hermione here had pretty much broken through the Compulsions on her.' Harry grinned across at Hermione.

'And they haven't done anything about the Memory Charms as yet.' he continued. 'Healer Rand said something about young minds being easier to damage, so they want to take their time with removing them.

'They'll start work on mine once they are happy I'm fully Healed physically.'

'And they'll start on mine once I get back from my holiday in France.' said Hermione.

'I wanted them to get rid of them right away and told them I'd stay here in the meantime. But my parents said no. They want me to go with them and get it done when we get back.'

'And you should listen to your parents Miss Granger.' Minerva stated. 'They get to see very little of you during the year. You should not miss the opportunity to spend time with them for something which can easily be done when you get back.'

Hermione sighed heavily.

'That's what Remus and Madame Bones said as well.' she said.

'Harry too.' she scowled at him and he grinned back at her, obviously used to being on the receiving end of her scowls.

Then perhaps you might consider that, since so many people are saying the same thing. Perhaps, it might be good advice Miss Granger.' Minerva said.

'However, as much as I would enjoy staying to talk to the two of you. I have a limited amount of time in which to visit my friend, and I still have to speak to the Healer at the Healers Station before I can go in and see her.'

'Oh, you must mean Madame Pomfrey.' said Harry.

'Remus told me that Amelia had persuaded her to come in a couple of days ago.'

At Minerva's nod he continued on.

'I don't think she's doing so well.' he said. 'Remus said she had insisted on having all the Compulsion and Memory Charms removed in one go, and that she's struggling to deal with things now.

'That's one of the reasons they want to take their time with Hermione and me. They don't want us to break down the way Madame Pomfrey has.

'They won't even let me go and visit her yet. Not even to tell her I don't blame her for anything.'

'You are an amazing young man Harry.' Minerva said. 'Always so quick to think of others and wanting to help them.

'I will tell Madame Pomfrey that you don't blame her. And I promise that you will get your chance to tell her for yourself just as soon as the Healers allow it.'

* * *

Walking into the private room, just off the Healers Ward, and seeing her friend curled up on the bed as if in pain, was hard.

Poppy Pomfrey was a tough woman. Being tough was a pre-requisite of being a Healer, and specialising in Healing children simply raised the bar.

To be able to remain dispassionate and professional, while still caring for those who were hurt and in pain, took a mental toughness which was only found in a few. But Poppy Pomfrey had it in spades. Which was why seeing her like this was so hard.

Minerva crossed the room and sat down in the chair beside the bed. Reaching over to take her friends hand, she resolved to set her own problems aside for the next hour. Right now, her friend came first.

'Hello Poppy.' she made certain to keep her voice level and dry. Exactly as she spoke to her students when they had misbehaved. 'I understand you did something fairly silly yesterday.'


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

Thanks to my beta _Alex Lilly Potter_.

**Chapter 14**

The building rocked. Almost everyone standing around the entrance, goblin and human alike, stumbled or fell as the shockwave passed through and even as the first cries of alarm and fear started to rise into the air, the ring of alarms started.

'All non-Gringotts employees are required to leave the building at this time.' the amplified voice cut through the rising hubbub of voices.

'All Vaults have been sealed and all customers are required to vacate the premises at this time.'

As this was being announced, the various guards and Tellers began shepherding the human customers out of the bank.

The Head of Security for Gringotts watched as the last of the customers visible in the hall were escorted out and the doors closed. He turned as one of his subordinates approached.

'Report.' he barked.

'Three humans were in the Vault area, all are accounted for and are currently being escorted to the nearest Security Area.' his subordinate replied.

'No major injuries have been reported. Fifteen cases of minor injuries are reporting to the Healers.'

'Very well. Ensure the security of the building and the Vault areas.' the Head of Security ordered as he turned to go and investigate the cause of the shockwave.

* * *

Ragnock was hurrying down the corridor towards to Ritual Chamber when he saw his Head of Security approaching from the other side. Two more shockwaves had passed through the bank during the five minutes it had taken him to make his way here. Meeting him at the entrance, he simply nodded towards the doorway and they entered together.

The scene that awaited them could only be described as organised chaos.

Harry Potter was lying on the floor in the middle of the remains of a ritual circle. His limbs twitching and thrashing as his cries and screams of pain cut through the air.

Of the team of seven Healers who had been present to break the first of the bindings on his magic, three were currently lying on the floor next to the walls, having obviously been thrown through the air if the fact that one was bleeding from the head, and all three were unconscious was any indication.

Of the remaining four, two were attempting to hold him in place, while the last two were frantically trying to deal with whatever it was that was causing him pain.

The final person in the chamber was Master Ripjaw, who had requested to attend the ritual in order to observe any effects it had on the soul fragment in Harry's scar. He was currently reinforcing the wards on the Chamber.

Noticing the two of them entering the chamber, he turned and called out.

'Where the hell's the EMR unit. Those four are going to be exhausted long before this is over.

'And get my curse-breaking team in here. We need to reinforce the wards in here before he levels the bank.'

Ragnock turned to his Head of Security, but he was already making his way to the door. He turned back to Ripjaw, wondering if he could risk interrupting him for an explanation.

'We hit a trap.' Ripjaw said, obviously realising what he was about to ask. 'We missed it in the scans somehow. But when we started to remove the binding...'

At that point the door opened and a number of goblins started to enter the Chamber.

'Get those three out of here and to the Healers Ward.' Ripjaw instantly started giving orders.

'The rest of you Healers help Senior Healer Ogawa. My lot, we need to reinforce these wards.'

Three of the junior Healers moved to the injured and after a quick examination motioned to the guards who had entered with them to take them from the Chamber. They then moved to assist their colleagues who were still working on Harry.

'He's gone into shock.' Senior Healer Ogawa was saying to his colleagues. He pointed to four of the fresh Healers. 'You four keep him breathing and his heart beating. The rest of us will work on getting his core settled down.'

Just then, Ripjaw's apprentice, who had been monitoring Harry while the Ripjaw organised the rest of the curse-breaking team to start work on reinforcing the wards, gave a frightened call.

'Master, the soul fragment. It's waking up.'

Ripjaw cursed, while Ragnock's eyes widened. Moving quickly, Ripjaw cast his own diagnostics.

'Right you lot. Leave the wards.' he called out. 'The fragment is waking up and we need to transfer it right now.

'Brokentooth, you're in charge of that.'

Brokentooth, his second in command, opened his mouth to object.

'The boy has no training in the mind arts.' said Ripjaw. 'Which means he has no way to defend against that fragment once it's fully awake.

'Which means someone has to help him.

'Which means me.'

As he said that he moved to kneel at Harry's head. Taking his head between his hands he paused to order the Healers to stand back before looking over at Ragnock.

'You know what you have to do.' he stated.

Ragnock nodded and turned to move to the door.

Hearing the curse-breakers start to chant he opened the door to find his Head of Security standing on the other side.

'I want three fully armoured squads here within two minutes.' Ragnock ordered.

'I want another curse-breaking team, with experience in dealing with possessions here with them. And a fresh team of Healers.

'No-one is to leave this Chamber without being examined by the curse-breakers.

'If anyone, including and specifically, Harry Potter, attempts to leave this room without my personal and explicit authorisation.' Ragnock closed his eyes briefly before firming his resolve.

'Kill him!'


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

Thanks to my beta _Alex Lilly Potter_.

**Chapter 15**

Amelia and Remus entered Ragnock's private quarters, wondering what on earth had happened earlier today and hoping against hope that it hadn't involved Harry. Although both felt that was most likely a forlorn hope given Harry had been scheduled to have one of the bindings on his magic released today, and his demonstrated luck.

Amelia had had a busy morning. When the first reports had started to come in of something happening at Gringotts, she had dispatched Auror's and Healers to the Alley, both to deal with any injuries, and to try and keep any trouble to a minimum.

She was glad that she had. When word had reached the Ministry that Gringotts had been closed, tempers had run high. Especially when some idiot had mentioned that there was at least one person still in the bank. That utter cretin of a Senior Undersecretary had even had the gall to try and raise support for storming Gringotts to demand the return of any human still within the bank.

Fortunately, she had been able to head that off by reminding the Minister that Gringotts was sovereign territory and storming the bank would start a war. That reminder, along with informing him that between the Auror's currently allocated elsewhere, and those already involved in preventing Diagon Alley becoming a riot zone, she only had 10 Auror's left in the building. All of whom were needed to make sure the Ministry building itself was secure, had thankfully been enough to prevent the Minister from doing something truly stupid.

When the missing three people had been escorted out of the bank an hour later and a Gringotts spokesgoblin had made a statement that the bank would remain closed while they checked the building for damage, but was expected to open tomorrow, tempers had calmed considerably.

Freeing up the time to come to this meeting hadn't been easy. But with a bit of shuffling to her schedule she had managed it. Although it meant she would be working late and unable to visit tonight.

As both Amelia and Remus took their seats, the looked at Ragnock and were shocked at what they saw. For the first time in their acquaintance, he looked tired.

Seeing the looks of shock on their faces, Ragnock chuckled wryly.

'It has been a tiring day already, and it is only part way done so far.' he said. Crossing to the bar, he poured each of them a drink without asking and passed them out.

'I am sure you both have questions regarding this morning. Both about young Harry, and the disturbance here at Gringotts this morning.

'Unfortunately, as you probably feared, they are connected.'

Crossing the room, he sat down and sighed heavily.

'As you were aware, the Healers were scheduled to remove the first of the bindings on young Harry's magic this morning.

'This took place in one of our Ritual Chambers here within the bank, with a team of seven Healers. Master Ripjaw was also in attendance as he wished to monitor what, if any, effect removing the binding had on the soul fragment in the scar.

'Master Ripjaw's presence was fortunate. When the Healers began the Ritual to remove the binding, they triggered a trap that Dumbledore had hidden behind the magic of the bindings.'

Both Amelia and Remus went pale.

'We have now questioned Dumbledore about this and discovered what he did.

'He linked all of the bindings together. Whenever anyone attempted to remove any of the bindings, all them would collapse in a cascade failure. Releasing all of young Harry's magic at once, forcing his magical core into a state of instability and risking its integrity.

'Fortunately, Mater Ripjaw realised what was happening in sufficient time that he was able to cast a partial shield over himself and the Healer team. While three of the team were still injured enough to incapacitate them, the remaining four were able to assist in attempting to stabilise young Harry's core.

'When my Chief of Security and myself entered the Chamber, the four of them were working on young Harry, while Master Ripjaw was reinforcing the wards on the Chamber.'

Remus opened his mouth to ask a question, but Ragnock motioned him back to silence.

'My Chief of Security immediately left on Master Ripjaw's request and brought back additional Healers and Master Ripjaw's curse-breaking team to assist Master Ripjaw with the wards.

'Master Ripjaw organised his team in reinforcing the wards, while the Healers worked on stabilising young Harry.

'Unfortunately, at this point, the soul fragment started to wake up.'

Remus moaned at hearing that, while Amelia's face went even paler. Ragnock continued on as if he hadn't heard Remus.

'Master Ripjaw ordered the Healers back and his second in command to begin the transfer ritual on the soul fragment immediately.'

Both Remus and Amelia looked hopeful.

'Master Ripjaw then used Legilimency to project himself into young Harry's mind and engaged the soul fragment in an attempt to prevent it from possessing young Harry.

'The curse-breaking team carried out the ritual and after a long battle in which the soul fragment resisted extremely hard, they were successful in transferring it out of young Harry and into a dagger that I provided as a container.

'The Healers were then able to stabilise young Harry and after being examined by a fresh team of curse-breakers for signs of possession, he was taken to the Healers Ward to recover.

'The dagger is now in a secure Vault awaiting destruction.'

Ragnock fell silent and Amelia and Remus sat there, trying to process what they had just heard.

'So Harry's all right then.' stated Remus finally.

'As best as we can tell at the moment, yes.' Ragnock replied.

'He is physically fine, although he will no doubt be in some pain when he wakes up.

'The Healers are concerned however, about his magic and his mind after his ordeal.'

Amelia frowned at him.

'What do you mean?' she demanded.

'There is only one case on record of a person having multiple bindings on their magic removed in a single, sudden step.' replied Ragnock.

'That person did not survive the experience. Which means there is no data available to estimate how his magic may respond to what has occurred.

'They shall have to wait until after he wakes up and continue to monitor him before they can make a realistic diagnosis.'

'And his mind?' asked Remus.

'Again, we will have to wait until he wakes up before we can determine if there has been any damage to his mind.' Ragnock replied.

'While we are certain that the soul fragment was successfully removed and did not manage to possess young Harry, we do not currently know how much damage it was able to inflict on his mind before it was transferred.'

'I thought you said that Master Ripjaw used Legilimency to help Harry.' said Remus.

'Can't he give us some idea?'

'Unfortunately, Master Ripjaw is not available to advise us on this.' replied Ragnock.

'Master Ripjaw failed to survive the battle.'


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

Thanks to my beta _Alex Lilly Potter_.

**Chapter 16**

Amelia and Remus were once again in Ragnock's private quarters, although this time Minerva McGonagall had joined them.

'I believe that the three of you would appreciate an update on the information we have so far collated regarding Dumbledore and his actions.' began Ragnock.

'That would be good Ragnock.' replied Amelia. 'You've had him for just over a week now after all. I'm sure you've pretty much gotten his life story by now.'

'We do not have as much information as I would like, I am afraid. He has unfortunately, Amelia, proven to be uncommonly skilful in his ability to state the truth while not answering the question fully, or even at all in some cases.' said Ragnock.

'Albus always was a master at prevarication and obfuscation.' Minerva stated. 'He managed to turn it into something of an art form.

'It always did make conversations with him difficult.'

'Quite.' Ragnock said dryly. 'He has annoyed the interrogators quite a bit over the last week or so. They have had to very _precise_ in the questions they ask and cover the same topics repeatedly to ensure they have gotten all the information we require.

'Fortunately, we do have _some_ good news however.'

The others just looked at without saying anything.

'One of the Healers, who was in attendance during the questioning, turns out to have been a muggleborn witch.' Ragnock continued.

'She made a suggestion which we are now following up, but which would appear to be quite promising. If it works out as hoped, we should have fewer problems getting answers by the end of this week.'

'That sounds good Ragnock.' Amelia said. 'Would you mind telling us what this suggestion was?

'We occasionally have the same kind of problem getting straight answers from suspects in the DMLE. I wouldn't mind having a way around the problem.'

Ragnock looked at her for a moment, before grinning.

'The suggestion was, that the problem is that Dumbledore is a Master of Occlumency.'

Amelia simply nodded to indicate that it was something her Department had thought of as well.

'While Occlumency does not negate any of the various Truth Potions in use today, the mental organisation and control involved in it, does allow a person who has mastered it to pick and choose the words they use to reply to the questions put to them.

'Or, in other words, to choose _which_ truth to answer with.'

'That's all well and good, Ragnock.' said Remus. 'It doesn't do much about getting around the problem though. Unless...'

Remus trailed off in thought.

'Quite right Remus.' said Ragnock. 'Although simply knowing that someone is using Occlumency to reduce the information they give away under questioning does help to a degree.

'However, the previously mentioned muggleborn witch also suggested a potential solution to the problem.'

He stopped and grinned at them.

'All right, Ragnock.' Amelia finally said. 'I'll bite. What did she suggest?'

'Well, since you insist, Amelia. As, I am sure, you are each aware, the key to Occlumency is the organisation and control of the mind.' began Ragnock.

'As such, a Master Occlumens retains control over most of their mind, even while under the influence of truth potions. The potion forces them to answer the question and to state only the truth, while their control over the rest of their mind allows them to determine which truth and how much truth they state.

'The suggestion is that we remove, or at least reduce, their control over their mind.'

Amelia and Minerva frowned.

'And just how were you thinking of doing that?' Minerva asked. 'I can't think of any potions that would do such a thing without reacting badly with the truth potion.'

'Neither can I.' stated Amelia. 'And I know that both my own Department and the Department of Mysteries have been trying to improve Veritaserum or come up with a better version for quite some time now.'

'Ah, but you are both thinking too narrowly.' replied Ragnock. 'Although I believe Remus here may have an idea.'

Seeing the others looking at him, Remus straightened up in his seat.

'Hallucinogens.' he stated. 'Or to be more precise, muggle hallucinogens.'

Ragnock grinned at him, but seeing the look of confusion on the face of Amelia and Minerva, Remus continued.

'Hallucinogens were originally used by the early shaman or witch doctors to help them access their visions. As we improved our understanding of magic and how to access it, the use of hallucinogens by the magical community gradually died out.

'The muggles continued to use them however, and eventually learned how to use them in medicine to reduce the amount of pain experienced by patients.

'They also, however, realised that some of them do have an effect on the mind. Some of the drugs they have discovered reduce the control the person taking them has over their own mind, or body.'

'Correct.' Ragnock stated. 'We are currently testing a number of these hallucinogens on volunteers, in order to determine the best one to use that does not interfere with the truth potion.

'Once the testing is concluded, the questioning of Dumbledore should go much quicker.'

'Good.' said Amelia. 'We've only got another week and a half before he's due back from his holiday and will be missed.

'I'd like to have everything set up and ready for his trial before then if possible.'

'As would I, Amelia.' Ragnock replied. 'While we already have sufficient evidence to imprison Dumbledore and _throw away the key_ as it were. I would much prefer to know all the details of what Dumbledore has been up to as soon as possible.

'Plus there are those who were involved in his schemes, either voluntarily or not who need to be identified.'

'And do we have any more details on what he did to young Harry? Specifically, what he did with binding Harry's magic, or anything else he may have done along those lines?' asked Minerva.

'A little more detail, yes.' Ragnock replied. 'Although, once again, not as much as I would prefer. Nor do we have as much certainty that we have uncovered everything as either I or the interrogators would like.

'As best as we can tell, the bindings we were already aware of, were the only ones in place. They are the only ones Dumbledore has admitted to as yet, although the interrogators will be questioning him on that subject again once the testing on the hallucinogens is completed.

'The Healers have also run more tests on young Harry and have not picked up any indications of anything remaining in place. Additional tests will be done once he wakes up, and throughout his recovery period.

'But, as far as we can tell at this point, Dumbledore's interference with Harry on a physical level was limited to the bindings and preventing the abuse he suffered from being discovered. Which included the compulsions on him which have already been dealt with, and the Memory Charms which are scheduled to be dealt with once he recovers.'

'And how is Harry recovering from what happened?' Minerva asked.

'The Healers are reasonably happy.' Amelia answered her.

'He is still unconscious.' she continued. 'And after discussing it with the Healers, we've agreed to allow him to wake up naturally.

'Both his body and his magic were under a lot of strain as a result of all the bindings being released at once, so the Healers feel that allowing his body to repair itself and his magic to stabilise while he is unconscious, is probably for the best.

'They can continue to give him the various potions and nutrients he was on without needing to wake him up, so that isn't an issue. And he'd be confined to bed for the next week or two anyway.

'If he doesn't wake up naturally once they are happy with his physical and magical condition, then we'll discuss it again.'

'And Miss Granger?' asked Minerva.

'We've decided to wait and inform her when she returns from her holiday.' Remus replied.

'Well, I'll happily leave that particular task to the two of you.' Minerva smirked.

'You do realise how she is likely to react when she finds out what has happened, and that the two of you decided to keep it from her?'

'Yes Minerva,' Remus responded wryly. 'I did happen to witness Miss Granger remonstrating with Harry over his thoughtlessness in not keeping her informed.

'And how she kept him company the following day in the Healers Ward.

'We were thinking, however, that as someone Miss Granger knows and trusts, and as her Head of House...'

'I am afraid that as this is not term time, Remus.' Minerva interrupted him. 'And that since this is not regarding something that occurred on school grounds, I would not be the most suitable person.

'Not to mention that as Harry's guardian and honorary uncle, Amelia and yourself are most evidently the correct people for this task.'

Amelia and Remus scowled at her.

'Perhaps Ragnock...' Amelia began.

'I am quite certain that I will be far too busy on that particular day to fit in a meeting with a young human child.' Ragnock stated categorically, and grinned at the two of them.

'I am afraid the two of you are not getting out of this one.'

'I wonder what meetings I can arrange for that day.' Amelia muttered under her breath, forgetting for a moment that Remus had excellent hearing.

'I think I would be quite upset with you if you were to do that, Amelia.' responded Remus.

'And I think that I'd rather face you when you were upset, than Miss Granger.' shot back Amelia.

'Why don't we just accept that the two of you will meet and explain things to Miss Granger.' Minerva interjected.

'And then we can get on with the rest of this meeting.'

'An excellent idea Minerva.' Ragnock stated. 'These two can discuss which of them shall inform Miss Granger on their own time.

'Perhaps Amelia would like to update us on the search for Sirius?'

'Unfortunately,' Amelia began. 'There's not much to say.

'Fudge refuses to rescind the Kiss on sight order and he's turned loose the Dementors to hunt for him. Which has my Department running around trying to deal with all the problems they are causing.

'He's also notified the muggle Prime Minister and convinced him to get Sirius's name and picture widespread coverage in their National Media. Which, combined with our own media, means we're getting reports of sightings from all over the country.

'Far too many reports for us to even begin to investigate them all, to be honest.

'Right now, he could be anywhere as far as my office is concerned. And with the Dementors loose, I just don't have the manpower to mount a proper search.

'What I have done, is place someone at each location I think he might possibly go to.

'That means his old Family home, the Potters old home, the Dursley's, even though I'm not sure if he even knows where they live, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade and Hogwarts.

'I've also given orders to the Auror's that I think I can trust, to capture him and not kill him.

'But at the moment, I'm simply hoping he can stay free until after we can act, and then we can get it out in the media that we know he's innocent and want him to hand himself in so we can formalise it and make it official.'

'There were a few safe house the Order used in the last war Amelia.' Minerva said. 'I'm not sure if Sirius knew about them, but I'll give you the locations later, just in case he did.'

'Thank you, Minerva.' Amelia replied.

'Now, as I am sure you realised when you were invited to this meeting. We wish to discuss Hogwarts.'

'The possibility had occurred to me, yes.' replied Minerva.

'Good.' stated Ragnock. 'Now, while I realise that you cannot actually do anything until we make our arrest of Dumbledore public. And that you have only had just over a week to think about things.

'But have you come to any conclusions or decisions so far?'

'Well...' started Minerva.

'As you said, it's only been a week so far, but you're not quite correct that there's been nothing I could actually do.'

'What do you mean?' asked Amelia quizzically. 'I can't think of anything you could do that wouldn't tip someone off that something was up, other than preparing lists of potential new teachers.'

'Not quite, Amelia.' Minerva replied. 'Although Filius and myself have spent some time discussing who we would like to recruit for the various subjects.

'While we have had to be somewhat discrete given that Argus, Severus and Hagrid are all still in the castle, we have spent some time examining the castle and grounds for anything which shouldn't be there, or which is potentially dangerous.

'We may not be curse-breakers, but we have identified a few areas of concern, including what Filius believes to an extremely old curse designed to increase the tensions between the Houses.'

Amelia raised her eyebrows at hearing that.

'Just how old does he think it might be?' she asked.

'Somewhere around eight or nine hundred years old he thinks.' Minerva replied. 'Although it was initially obscured by another charm which was of much more recent origin.'

'How much more recent?' Ragnock asked, interest showing in his voice.

'The signature belonged to Dumbledore.' Minerva said. 'And Filius thinks it was placed when he was still a student.'

'Our guess is that he somehow came across it as a student, and rather than reporting it, he decided to re-apply the charm which was covering it up.'

'That does sound like something he would do.' Remus said. 'From what we know of him now, he has a habit of setting up conflicts while he works around behind the scenes.'

'Anyway...' Minerva continued.

'Filius and I will have a list of everything we have uncovered ready for when your curse-breakers arrive Ragnock.

'But, in addition to that, I've been looking at the Hogwarts finances.

'As Deputy Headmistress, I have access to the school books. One of the compulsions Dumbledore had on me, was to never ask to look at them, and to trust Dumbledore in whatever he said regarding the school finances.

'One of the things Dumbledore always said when asked why we had so few teachers, or why the school and the schools equipment was so run down, was that Hogwarts was barely breaking even and that he had to fight the Board for every knut.

'A look at the books has been quite revealing however.

Both Dumbledore and certain members of the Board have been helping themselves to the school funds for quite a while.

'I'm afraid that I'll require the help of Gringotts to track down exactly where the money's been going. But I have identified a few things that have been happening.

'To begin with, both Argus Filch and Rebeus Hagrid are supposedly receiving pay equal to a full professor. When I know for certain that they are not.

In addition, Binns is still being paid as a Senior, Tenured Professor, even though he dead and no longer even has an account for said pay to be paid into.

'Dumbledore is being paid as Headmaster and also receiving full pay for teaching three different classes, two of which Hogwarts does not currently offer to students due to a lack of an available teacher. Transfiguration, Alchemy and Enchanting.

'I myself, am supposedly being paid approximately a third more than I am actually receiving. And Severus is reported as being paid approximately half as much again as I would have expected him to be being paid.

'The books also show a yearly equipment fund which is much larger than Dumbledore has ever reported as being available and which is shown as having been spent in full every year, although what exactly it has been spent on isn't shown.

'In short, I estimate there is somewhere around a hundred and fifty thousand galleons a year which I believe needs to be investigated in the school budget that the Board approves.'

'That's a fair amount of money.' Amelia whistled.

'Quite.' Minerva responded. 'Although it doesn't take into account the money that the Board itself is removing from the school.'

Amelia's face went blank.

'I've got a couple of old friends on the Board, Minerva.' she said. 'And I'm fairly sure that they wouldn't have any part in stealing from the school.'

'I'm quite sure that they wouldn't.' Minerva responded. 'However...

'Were you aware that Lucius Malfoy is the current Treasurer for the Board? Or that before him the Treasurer was his father Abraxas?'

Amelia shook her head.

'My understanding, from speaking to those members of the Board that I am on social terms with.' Minerva continued. 'Was that the Board members received a stipend of five hundred galleons a year as compensation for the time they spend dealing with school matters.'

'That sounds about right, as far as I can recall.' Amelia replied.

'Well, according to the books, each Board member is receiving five hundred galleons a month as a stipend.' Minerva stated.

'With additional, one off payments, for additional duties as required. With these payments starting at a thousand galleons and ranging up to ten thousand galleons. Although I haven't come across anything so far saying exactly what these additional duties may have been.

'Obviously, it's going to take an expert to go over everything properly. But by my best estimate, the Board has been removing somewhere around eighty to a hundred thousand galleons a year from the school funds.

'Which means, that since the books still show the school as running a twenty thousand galleon a year profit, if we can stop that money being siphoned away, that we will have somewhere around two hundred and fifty thousand galleons a year extra to work with.'

'Now that is a respectable amount of money.' said Remus.

'Indeed it is Remus.' responded Minerva. 'And it should allow Filius and myself to return the school to how it was when we were student's.'

Amelia frowned at her.

'When Filius and myself attended as students, the class sizes were much smaller than they currently are. Even though the number of students was roughly the same.

'The reason for that, was the number of teachers.

'Five of the core subjects, Transfiguration, Charms, Defence, Potions and Herbology all had three professors. With first, fifth and seventh year being taught by the senior professor and the other four years being split between the other two professors.

'Astronomy, History of Magic and the electives each had two professors. Astronomy and History had the senior professor teaching the same as the other five core subjects. For the electives, they taught third, fifth and seventh years. The other professor for the subjects taught the remaining years.

'Even with the smaller class size, the extra teachers meant that there was more time per student available per professor.

'With the additional staff for those subjects, plus the staff for the various subjects which are no longer offered, there was more than enough staff to cover the patrols at night, meaning the prefects weren't required to do some of it.'

'That all sounds good Minerva, but do you think you can get it into place by September?' Amelia asked.

'To be honest?' Minerva said. 'No.

'Most of the good teachers are already under contract for next year. I'm going to have a difficult enough time finding people to take over Transfiguration and Potions for the coming year. Although I'm hoping I'll also manage someone for History as well.

'Getting hold of additional people for each of the positions is going to be difficult, and I'm probably going to have to take on people with the qualifications but no experience. At least to start with.

'The books suggest we should be able to offer a good wage, which will help to attract people. But until we actually start to show results and improve the school's reputation, then the best teachers are unlikely to be willing to come and work at Hogwarts.

'The best estimate Filius and myself have been able to come up with is that while we should begin to see results next year, it's going to take at least four or five years to get the school even close to where it should be.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N** – Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

Thanks to my beta _Alex Lilly Potter_.

**Chapter 17**

He wasn't looking forward to today he decided as he forced himself out of his bed.

Oh, the thought of going to Egypt was exciting. Seeing the ancient monuments, seeing where Bill worked and hopefully a little of what he did, that was exciting all right.

But the journey there was a real pain. Two days of travelling to get there, plus another two days to get back. And he never did like travelling by portkey. Although that made him sound like an experienced traveller, not someone who'd only used one once before.

He wished his Mum and Dad had gone for the long distance, single stage portkey after all. Even if it would have cost an extra hundred and fifty galleons added onto the price. It would have meant less time travelling and he could still have been in bed.

But no, they decided to save the money and go for the cheaper, shorter portkeys. So that meant four portkeys to get to Gibraltar yesterday.

Then a ferry trip over to Tangier this morning, before another five portkeys to get to Luxor where Bill lives.

He heard his Mum calling through the hotel room door that it was time they were downstairs for breakfast.

'Coming Mum.' he called back and he hurried to finish getting dressed, it wouldn't do to miss breakfast. He was feeling a little bit hungry after all.

* * *

Sprawled flat out on the floor of the tunnel, he shone his flashlight along the base of the wall. Looking for anything that might give a hint as to where the protections for this particular section of this tomb might be located.

He heard footsteps approaching from behind him, but ignored them for now. They were the only ones one site, so it had to be a member of his team, and everyone on the team knew you didn't startle or interrupt a curse-breaker at work. It wasn't out of any idea of politeness or good manners or anything like that. It was simple self-preservation. If you came across a curse-breaker who looked like they were working, you assumed they were working on something dangerous. And if you didn't want to risk dying, you waited until they were finished.

Finishing up his examination, he pulled a piece of chalk from his pocket and made a mark on the floor before crawling back several feet until he had passed another mark on the floor, before standing up.

He turned and looked at the person who had arrived while he was working. He still had a couple of hours of his shift to go, so something had to have happened for them to send someone down to him.

'Message came in for you Weasley.' came the response. 'You're to report to Head Office in Alexandria ASAP.

'Goblin called Brokentooth is waiting for you there. No details on what it's about though.'

Bill Weasley thought hard about why he might be being summoned like this.

'Brokentooth? Isn't he in Master Ripjaw's team?' Bill asked his colleague.

'As far as I know, yes.' was the reply. 'They got hustled off to England for some big, hush-hush job a couple of weeks ago though.

'Not heard anything about them since though.'

'Oh well. I guess I'll find out what it's about once I get there.' said Bill.

'Now... I've cleared this corridor up to this point. And the floor and both walls to a height of one foot from the floor are clear up to the mark I just made...'

* * *

'So let me get this straight Master Brokentooth.' Bill said.

'You believe my sister has come into contact with an activated Horcrux. And you want me to test her for signs of possession and of having been possessed in the last year.

'Then, if the tests are positive, you want me to convince my parents to have her treated here, rather than take her home to get treatment.'

'That is correct Mr. Weasley.' Brokentooth replied.

* * *

Ron groaned as he landed in the Arrivals area in Alexandria, his stomach rebelling.

He had only thought he had disliked portkeys before. Now he was absolutely one hundred percent positive he detested them. And they still had another one to take to get to Luxor.

Mum had said before they started this morning that they would have a two hour break here in Alexandria and would get some lunch before the final leg. He wasn't quite sure if his stomach was up to lunch at the moment.

Then again, breakfast was almost four hours ago now and he was hungry. So yeah, lunch sounded like a great idea right about now!

'Dad!' he heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like Bill's call out. 'Over here Dad.'

He turned to look and sure enough, there was Bill making his way over to them.

'Bill!' called his Mum and immediately rushed over to wrap her arms around her oldest son.

'I thought you were meeting us in Luxor?' asked his Dad, even as he gave him a hug.

Bill shrugged.

'Change of plans. I got called in to Head Office this morning.' he began. 'I'm going to be here in Alexandria for the next couple of days at least.

'So I've sorted out some hotel rooms here for all of us and cleared things with the hotel in Luxor as well.'

'Hmm, well... about that son.' began Arthur.

'Don't worry about it Dad.' Bill interrupted him. 'Since they've called me off the job I was on for this. They're putting me up in a hotel anyway.

'And since it's disrupting you lot's holiday, the boss has authorised me to get rooms for you guys as well.

'It's all going on the clients bill at the end of the day.' he finished with a grin.

Arthur stared at him hard.

'Son...' he paused. 'If it's not Gringotts, who's the client? Or can't you say.'

'Normally I couldn't.' Bill said. 'But in this case...

'Ultimately, it's Malfoy who'll be paying it.

'He just doesn't know that yet.'

Arthur looked at him before nodding.

'Ok son.' he said.

'Arthur...' Molly began.

'No Molly.' Arthur stopped her. 'If Bill's boss has already authorised this, then we'd be insulting Gringotts if we refused.'

'And I suppose that being put up in a hotel here in Alexandria at Malfoy's expense doesn't come into it?' Molly huffed.

'Well...' Arthur grinned at her.

'Maybe a little.'

* * *

Quietly closing the door behind him, Bill crossed the room and looked down at the red haired little girl who had captured his heart in a vice like grip the first time he had seen her and resolutely refused to let go ever since.

Leaving home to go to Hogwarts the following summer, going away to school without his parents and siblings, especially her, his little sister, had been the hardest thing he had ever had to do at that time. Only broken by leaving home to come here to work in Egypt and leaving them all behind.

Until now that is. Now he had to test her for signs of possession by some of the blackest magic around. And the thought that his little sister had been exposed to something like that was breaking his heart.

Taking a deep breath, he took out his wand and began.

* * *

He was pale and his hands were shaking half an hour later as he slipped out of the room.

'Everything all right Bill?' Arthur's voice behind him startled him.

'Dad!' Bill gasped. 'I didn't notice you there.'

'Obviously.' Arthur said wryly. 'Or you'd never have jumped like that.'

Bill glanced at him, reconsidering his plans to try and pull his parents aside for a talk in the morning.

'Is Mum still up?' he asked.

'Yes. She was just checking on the boys when she saw you go into Ginny's room.' Arthur said.

'Could you ask her to come to my room then Dad?' Bill asked. 'We need to talk.'

* * *

Finished putting the last of the privacy spells in place, Bill turned and saw his parents already sitting beside the small table. Crossing the room to the mini-bar, he collected three glasses and the bottle of firewhiskey he had bought earlier that day.

Taking his own seat, he poured everyone a drink.

'That was a fairly comprehensive set of privacy spells there, son.' said Arthur. 'I don't think I've seen anyone seal a room so thoroughly against eavesdropping since the war.'

Bill took a drink before answering.

'It's actually fairly standard practice for certain conversations if they are happening out with the bank or a secured site.'

'And a chat with your parents requires that kind of security?' Arthur queried.

'Unfortunately, for this particular chat, yes.' Bill replied.

Arthur and Molly looked concerned.

'Bill...' Molly said. 'What have you gotten into?'

'It's not what I've gotten into Mum.' Bill said.

'It's what Ginny's gotten into I'm afraid.'

'Ginny?' Arthur said, confused.

'Ginny.' stated Bill.

'Just what do you know about what happened at Hogwarts this last year?'

'Just the basics really.' replied Arthur.

'Ginny happened across an enchanted diary that had some fairly strong compulsion charms on it, that made her do some things she wouldn't normally have done.

'Ron and Harry think it was Lucius Malfoy who gave it to her, but there's no proof.

'A few students got petrified at the school during the year, although they are all fine now.

'And then Ginny got kidnapped towards the end of the year and Harry rescued her.

'Harry claims there was a big basilisk that he had to kill, but it couldn't have been that big if Harry managed to kill it on his own.'

'And what did the Healer's say about Ginny afterwards?' Bill asked.

'Oh, Albus spoke to us once Madame Pomfrey had released her from the Hospital Wing.

'It was just a few Compulsion Charms on the diary and she was perfectly fine.' Molly replied.

Bill swore and lurched to his feet. Grabbing his glass he finished his drink before swearing again.

'Bill!' Molly gasped. 'What have I told you about using such language?'

'Sorry Mum.' Bill said. 'I'm just a little pissed off at Albus _bloody_ Dumbledore right now.'

He sat back down and poured himself another drink.

'Dad said you saw me go into Ginny's room earlier.' he said.

Molly just nodded.

'While I was in there, I did some tests.

'Tests that I am fully qualified to do through my work as a Curse-breaker.

'Ginny is most definitely _not_ fine.'

'But...' Molly stammered. 'But Albus... Madame Pomfrey... They said she was fine.'

'Madame Pomfrey is a great school Healer. But she's not trained in dealing with the effects of this kind of thing.

'And as for Dumbledore!'

Arthur held up his hand to stop Bill.

'Why don't you tell us what you know and we can go on from there.'

'Ok Dad.' Bill said. He paused and gathered his thoughts.

'Gringotts in Britain have apparently being keeping an eye on Dumbledore for a while now.

'And when they heard rumours about what was happening at Hogwarts they paid attention and then started their own investigation.

'I don't have any idea where they got all their information from, but that diary wasn't simply an enchanted diary with a few Compulsion Charms on it.'

Bill paused before continuing.

'Have either of you heard of the term Horcrux?' he asked.

Both Arthur and Molly shook their heads.

'It's some of darkest magic around.' explained Bill. 'Its purpose is to grant a form of immortality. And creating one requires the person creating it to perform an act of cold blooded murder. As well as some other even more unpleasant acts.'

His parents were looking at him, horrified.

'I know about them, and how to detect them and how to detect if a person has been affected by one, because we sometimes come across them in our work clearing ancient tombs.

'And yes, Gringotts Britain is convinced that diary was a Horcrux.'

'And Ginny?' Molly asked hesitantly.

Bill ran his hand through his hair before looking his Mum in the eye.

'Ginny tests positive for having been exposed to and affected by one.'

Molly seemed to just crumple in her seat as the tears began to flow. Arthur quickly jumped from his seat to wrap his arms around her.

'Now, now, Molly.' he said. 'I'm sure Bill wouldn't be sitting here talking with us now, with Ginny still sleeping in her room if it was as bad as all that.'

He turned to look at Bill with hope on his face.

'You're right Dad.' he began.

'It's not all bad

'Although it's not _good_ either.'

Molly looked up through her tears.

'The bad, is that she had that diary for something like nine or ten months. Which is quite a long time for something like this to work on her.

'The good is that it didn't manage to completely possess her.

'It managed to take her over for short periods of time, and it made an attempt to complete the possession, but it failed.'

'So what does that mean for Ginny?' Arthur asked.

'How is this going to affect her in the future?

'Is there some kind of treatment she should be getting?'

'How will it affect her in the future?' Bill began. 'There are too many variables to say for sure until she's been examined by an expert.

'But without treatment, the common effects are personality changes, mood swings, and an increased attraction towards Dark magic.

'Best case scenario, she ends up an angry, vicious person with a bit of an obsession with the Dark Arts.

'Worst case, she follows the same route as the person who made the Horcrux and attempts to become a Dark Lady.

'Treatment is with the Mind Healers.

'We're talking about an intensive course of treatment over the rest of this summer and then ongoing treatment after that until the Healers are satisfied they've done everything they can.

'That could be anything from a few months to several years.'

Arthur's face fell.

'Ah, son. I hate to say this, I really do. But I don't think we're in a position to be able to pay for that kind of treatment right now.'

'You don't need to worry about that Dad.' Bill replied.

'Remember that I said that I'd been called here for a job.'

Arthur nodded.

'Well, this is that job.

'Gringotts have determined that Malfoy was the one who passed the diary onto Ginny, and that Dumbledore knew about it and did nothing to stop it acting on Ginny, and that he failed to provide the proper treatment for her.

'As such, I have been informed that Ginny is to get the best possible treatment we can provide her, right here in Alexandria where the top experts are, and Malfoy and Dumbledore will be presented with the bill.'

Arthur rested his forehead on the top on Molly's head for a minute before looking up again.

'Thank you Bill.' he said, the relief evident in his voice. 'And please pass on our thanks to whoever it should be passed onto.'

'Oh, that's not all Dad.' Bill grinned.

'Since Ginny, and at least Mum will need to stay here for the rest of the summer. And I'm guessing you'll have to go back to work.

'I've arranged something to keep the boys occupied once your actual holiday is finished.'

Arthur raised an eyebrow at him in question.

'There are places available in a few of the local offices which I think Percy might be interested in.

'Some of the local shops have places that I thought the twins might be interested in, mostly warehouse work with perhaps the occasional shift in the shop itself.

'And we can always use another runner out at the site I'm working on just now, which would be good for Ron I think.

'None of them pay all that much. But since your accommodation and food is already covered under the cost of Ginny's treatment. It would be decent spending money for the boys. And it would keep them out of your hair while you went with Ginny to the Healers.'

'You really think Ginny needs this Bill?' asked Molly.

'Yes Mum, I do. And if Dumbledore hadn't been so concerned about sweeping everything under the carpet and saving his own reputation, she should have been started on this treatment the day after Harry rescued her.' Bill replied.

Molly looked at Arthur before giving a small nod.

'Ok then Bill.' Arthur said. 'We'll do it.

'Now we just need to talk about how we're going to break this to Ginny and the boys.'


	18. Chapter 18

Harry Potter and the world, locations and characters his story is set in belong to JKR.

Thanks for all the reviews.

Thanks to my beta _Alex Lilly Potter_.

**A/N** – made a minor change to the last chapter where Bill talks to his parents about possible jobs for the boys over the summer. Not anything you have to go back and read though.

**Chapter 18**

Breakfast, rather unusually for the Weasley family, had been a fairly quiet affair. Arthur, Molly and Bill were tired after being up talking so late the night before. That, plus the subject matter had left them feeling a bit subdued. Surprisingly, even the twins had picked up on the mood and weren't their usual lively selves, although how long that would last was open to question.

Finally everyone, even Ron, was finished eating and Arthur spoke up.

'Boy's, your mother and I need to have a chat with Ginny this morning. So Bill's going to be looking after you for now. Don't give him any trouble please.

'Ginny.' he continued. 'We'll talk in our room.'

He stood and helped Molly get to her feet while Ginny looked at them in confusion.

'Remember boys, don't give Bill any trouble. Something's come up and our plans have had to change, Bill will explain what you need to know.'

With that he led Molly and Ginny out of the dining room.

Bill looked at his younger brothers, surprise evident on all of their faces.

'Come on guys.' he said. 'We'll talk in my room.'

* * *

'Right guys.' Bill began. 'How much have Ron and Ginny told you about what happened at Hogwarts last year?'

Ron looked at him in surprise as Percy and the twins turned to him in accusation.

'Almost nothing.' Percy finally said. 'Just that Harry wasn't the Heir of Slytherin and that the two of them got her out of the Chamber. He said that Mum and Dad had told him not to talk about it.'

'Ok then, since it's relevant to why the plans for this summer are changing, and since I've been told that most of it will be made public later this summer, I'll give you the highlights and Ron can fill in the details for you later.' Bill said.

'It started with a diary being slipped in amongst Ginny's schoolbooks at Flourish and Blotts, the diary was an extremely Dark piece of magic which started trying to possess Ginny as soon as she started to write in it.

'Ginny was the one who was opening the Chamber under the influence of the diary. Eventually it attempted to possess her fully, which is when she disappeared into the Chamber and Harry and Ron went to rescue her.

'During the rescue Harry ended up killing a basilisk and destroying the diary, which stopped it from taking her over and most likely killing her.

'Does that all go along with what you recall Ron?' he asked.

'Eh... Pretty much I guess.' Ron replied.

'Good. As I said, you can ask Ron for the details later if you want.' Bill said. 'I for one would like to hear the details as well, since my boss didn't really go into them with me and I don't know the source of his information, so I've no idea just how much of what happened Gringotts know.

'Right, now for the hard part.

'Like I said earlier, the diary was an extremely Dark piece of magic. Ginny should have been thoroughly checked out immediately and started on a course of treatment right away. She wasn't.

'I don't have any of the details as to why, but the basics I've been told so far are that Dumbledore didn't want anyone looking too closely at what was happening at Hogwarts and has been covering a lot of things up recently.

'Having Ginny properly examined and having to pay for her treatment would have meant questions would have been asked that he wanted to avoid. So he blocked it.'

'But... But...' Ron stammered.

'So what does that mean for Ginny?' Percy interrupted.

'I gave Ginny a basic examination last night.' Bill started. 'She'll still need to have a full examination later today, but I did confirm that she's been affected by what happened, and that she needs treatment.

'That's what Mum and Dad are talking to her about now.

'She's going to be spending most of the rest of the summer with the Healer's here in Alexandria and there's no guarantee that she'll be Healed enough to return to Hogwarts in September. I hope she is, but if she isn't she'll stay here to continue her treatment.'

'But we're only supposed to be here for three weeks.' said one of the twins.

'I know. Which is why my bosses have suggested a solution.' said Bill.

'Now, as you might recall, I've only booked this first week off to spend with you lot. After that I'm back at work and you were going to spend the rest of the time doing the typical tourist stuff with Mum and Dad.

'Well, since Mum and Dad are going to be spending a lot of their time with Ginny at the Healers, that kind of leaves you four at a loose end once I head of back to work next week. And it's not fair on Percy to ask him to supervise you three.

'And then we also have to work out what to do with the four of you once Dad has to head back to work as well.

'So someone upstairs, I don't know who, suggested that we arrange something to keep you four occupied.'

All four of his brothers looked interested.

'You're old enough now Percy, that I think Dad might give you the option of going back home with him. But that still leaves the rest of you.

'Now, there are a number of options available for each of you to consider. But I think I already know which ones you'll each pick out.

'Percy. I know you're interested in working at the Ministry when you finish school. Well, you've got a choice of three different offices available. Including a place in Gringotts Head Office here in Alexandria. You'll get to see how an office works and the kinds of things you'll need to do, plus with Gringotts you'll get to work alongside both goblins as well as witches and wizards.

'Sound interesting to you?'

'Very much so.' replied Percy, his eyes lighting up.

'Good. As I mentioned, there are other alternatives open for you, but we'll talk about them over the next day or so.' Bill said.

'Now for you two.' he said as he looked over at the twins.

'Quite a few of the local shops take on summer staff, either in the shop itself or in the backroom or warehouse. Knowing you two however, the one I think you'll be most interested in, is the local joke shop.'

The twins sat up straight, their interest showing on their face.

'You'd be working in the warehouse, at least to start with. Which would let you see how they handle and store their products, plus you'd get the chance to see how they make some of their stuff and maybe even try your hand at making some it yourselves, if you prove yourselves responsible enough.' Bill continued.

'I'll warn you know though. Start goofing around and they'll kick you out the door.'

The twins looked at each other before looking back at Bill.

'We'll be good.' they chanted in unison.

'You'd better.' Bill said. 'Now as with Percy, there are a couple of other options and we'll talk about them over the next day or so before a final decision is made.'

He turned to Ron and grinned.

'And finally we have you Ron.'

Ron stared back, a bit apprehensive about the grin.

'I've actually only got one option for you Ron.' Bill said.

Ron grimaced.

'Oh, don't be like that Ron, I'm sure you'll like it.' Bill said.

'That's easy for you to say.' Ron retorted. 'You're not the one who's not being given a choice.'

'No, I'm not.' said Bill. 'Unfortunately the law here allows Percy to get a Workplace Experience Placement and the twins are old enough to get summer jobs.

'You, unfortunately, aren't. At least, not under normal circumstances.

'My boss did manage to find a loophole however, which we can exploit.

'So you, Ron, will be coming to work with me.'

Ron and the others stared at him, shocked.

'Don't worry.' Bill said. 'You won't be doing any curse-breaking.

'The loophole my boss found, is that in circumstances where a minor has no other adult supervision available to them, they can attend an adult family members place of work with them, as long as that family member is willing to guarantee their safety.

'One of the problems we always have on a site, is passing messages back and forth. There's a constant lack of runners and we can't always use magic to send a message when we're working. And that's where you come in Ron.

'You'll be joining the team I'm in as a runner, carrying messages between our base camp and the site itself.'

Ron scowled at him, thinking about having to run about in the heat.

'Don't be like that Ron.' Bill said. 'There's something I haven't mentioned yet which I think will increase your enthusiasm a bit. Well, two something's actually.'

The four of them looked at him expectantly.

'Well...' Bill drew it out.

'Since the four of you are going to be effectively working... you'll be able to do at least some magic the summer.'

'What!' all four of them exclaimed.

'Thought you'd like that.' Bill smirked at them.

'For Percy and you twins, it'll actually be part and parcel of the job you'll be doing. You won't be able to do the job without doing magic. So you get an exemption on doing magic.

'As for you Ron, while I can't get an exemption for you, since technically the job doesn't require any magic. We will be out in the middle of nowhere, and the only people around will be us and my team.

'Don't start thinking you'll be able to do anything you want, anywhere you want. But we'll work something out that'll allow you to practice your magic and I'll even teach you a few things myself.'

Ron vacillated between shock, ecstasy and finally disappointment.

'Ah... Bill.' he finally said. 'I don't actually have a wand.'

'What?' asked Bill.

'I damaged it last September. And then it got broken for good when we went down into the Chamber.' replied Ron. 'Mum said she'd get me a new one when we went for our school stuff at the end of the holidays.'

'Ok, we'll get you a new wand this week.' said Bill. 'Which reminds me. I know Ron was using Charlie's old wand. Do you three have a wand that chose you, or are you making do with old family wands?' he look at Percy and the twins.

'I've got my own.' said Percy.

'Mum said ours were her brothers.' one of the twins piped up.

'Right, you two will be going with Ron and me to the wandshop. We'll get Ron his wand and check if the wands you two have actually match you or not. If not, we'll get new wands for you two as well.'

'But... the cost' Percy started to say.

'Percy...' Bill interrupted him.

'The wand makers say that the wand chooses the wizard. It's not quite that simply, but the simple fact is that if you're using a wand which isn't matched to you, it's harder to do the spells because you're having to force things. And there will be some spells which you'll simply never be able to do with a wand which isn't a match for you.

'Why do think Charlie got himself a new wand as soon as he got his first paycheck?'

Percy stared at him before shrugging.

'I hadn't actually thought about it before.' he said.

'Ok.' Bill decided to continue on.

'The last thing I have to mention here, and I'm pretty sure you'll all like it. Is that since you'll be working. You'll be getting paid.'

The four of them looked at him. The grins began to spread across their faces. Even Percy started to smile.

'Now, the rate of pay varies between the different jobs, which will be something for you to consider when you're deciding which one to choose. It will also vary depending on how well you actually do the job. So if you slack off, you'll end up with less money.

'But it'll be your money. I already talked to Mum and Dad about this last night, and they've agreed that everything you earn this summer is your own spending money. Whether you spend it during the summer, or save it for another time is completely up to you. As is what you choose to spend it on.

'But I think we've had enough of the serious stuff for the moment.

'There's a pretty good pool in this hotel, so why don't we head on down to it. We can talk some more after lunch. Including Ron telling us what he knows about what happened at Hogwarts this last year.'


End file.
